Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to help increase the access to PrEP among (a) gay men, (b) bisexual men, (c) Black African communities, (d) women, (e) migrant communities and (f) other groups.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The HIV Action Plan commits to the development of a plan to improve access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for groups including gay men, bisexual men, black African communities, women and migrant communities. This plan will consider provision in settings beyond sexual and reproductive health services, such as in community pharmacy. Work on the plan will commence in the autumn and will be informed by evidence such as the research currently being undertaken by the English HIV and Sexual Health Commissioners’ Group on potential barriers to the uptake of PrEP in these groups.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to roll out the distribution of PrEP through community pharmacies.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The HIV Action Plan commits to the development of a plan to improve access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for groups including gay men, bisexual men, black African communities, women and migrant communities. This plan will consider provision in settings beyond sexual and reproductive health services, such as in community pharmacy. Work on the plan will commence in the autumn and will be informed by evidence such as the research currently being undertaken by the English HIV and Sexual Health Commissioners’ Group on potential barriers to the uptake of PrEP in these groups.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what comparative assessment he has made of the UK's record of preventing gynaecological cancers in comparison to other European countries, including (a) North Macedonia, (b) France and (c) Germany.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No such assessment has been made by the Department.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of widening the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s remit to encompass the provision of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PREP) for the clinically extremely vulnerable to COVID-19.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s remit continues to focus on the prioritisation of cohorts eligible for vaccination. The Department’s Antivirals and Therapeutics Taskforce (ATTF) is scoping the potential for pre-exposure prophylaxis, with experts from the Prophylaxis Oversight Group, the UK Health Security Agency, and the multi-agency group RAPID C-19. This includes identification of the patient groups which could most benefit, potential deployment and administration processes and evaluation of potential pre-exposure prophylaxis products.
The patient cohorts eligible for treatment with antivirals and monoclonal antibodies have been determined by an independent expert group commissioned by the Department and included in a clinical policy agreed by the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers. This group will also consider the patient groups eligible for any potential pre-exposure prophylactic treatments. The ATTF will continue to engage with the JCVI to ensure that clinical policy is aligned.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have had discussions with any country which is protecting the clinically extremely vulnerable by making pre-exposure prophylaxis (PREP) available to these individuals; and, if so, which countries they have had those discussions with.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The Department’s Antivirals and Therapeutics Taskforce is evaluating the use of pre-exposure prophylaxis and how it could be deployed in the United Kingdom. We have recently engaged with the United States of America on a bilateral basis and discussed with Singapore and Israel during a UK Health Security Agency international forum. These discussions have provided an understanding of the experiences of these countries for the clinical and logistic application of pre-exposure prophylaxis.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, other than Evusheld, they are aware of any monoclonal antibody treatment that can protect the clinically extremely vulnerable through pre-exposure prophylaxis (PREP) against Omicron and its variants; and, if so, to list them.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The Department’s Antivirals and Therapeutics Taskforce is scoping the potential for pre-exposure prophylaxis with experts from the Prophylaxis Oversight Group, the UK Health Security Agency and the multi-agency group RAPID C-19.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has approved two such products - Evusheld and Ronapreve. However, treatments must demonstrate sufficient efficacy against Omicron and new variants. Ronapreve has been withdrawn from general use as it has since been found to be ineffective against the Omicron variant. We are therefore gathering data on how Evusheld performs against new variants.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government who is responsible for (1) evaluating different monoclonal antibodies that work as pre-exposure prophylaxis to the clinically extremely vulnerable, and (2) providing recommendations to Ministers as to whether they should be introduced in place of the vaccinations for those in this group that aren’t protected by the existing vaccines.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The Antivirals and Therapeutics Taskforce is scoping pre-exposure prophylaxis, with the Prophylaxis Oversight Group, the UK Health Security Agency and RAPID C-19. The Taskforce provides recommendations to Ministers based on the available evidence and advice from these expert groups. RAPID C-19 provide recommendations on clinical policies, while the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is responsible for authorising medicines.
This includes the identification of patient groups which could benefit, determining potential deployment and administration processes and evaluation of any such products. Treatments must be clinically cost-effective and demonstrate sufficient efficacy against the Omicron and new variants to avoid mutations. Any plans to introduce prophylaxis is dependent on this evidence and value for money. Vaccines are recommended for those at high risk and the majority will be well protected by vaccination. Prophylaxis would not be introduced in place of vaccination.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to protect the clinically extremely vulnerable by making pre-exposure prophylaxis (PREP) available in the UK; and whether this policy is dependent on a budgetary consideration.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The Antivirals and Therapeutics Taskforce is scoping pre-exposure prophylaxis, with the Prophylaxis Oversight Group, the UK Health Security Agency and RAPID C-19. The Taskforce provides recommendations to Ministers based on the available evidence and advice from these expert groups. RAPID C-19 provide recommendations on clinical policies, while the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is responsible for authorising medicines.
This includes the identification of patient groups which could benefit, determining potential deployment and administration processes and evaluation of any such products. Treatments must be clinically cost-effective and demonstrate sufficient efficacy against the Omicron and new variants to avoid mutations. Any plans to introduce prophylaxis is dependent on this evidence and value for money. Vaccines are recommended for those at high risk and the majority will be well protected by vaccination. Prophylaxis would not be introduced in place of vaccination.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the number of clinically extremely vulnerable individuals who do not make antibodies through the vaccinations currently available but who would be protected by pre-exposure prophylaxis from monoclonal antibodies.
Answered by Lord Kamall
No current estimate has been made. However, work is underway with clinical experts to understand the size of the cohort and degree of immune response and determine the potential patient groups which may benefit from pre-exposure prophylaxis monoclonal antibodies.
The OCTAVE study has evaluated the immune responses following COVID-19 vaccination in patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. The initial data from the study showed that approximately 11% of immunocompromised patients fail to generate any antibodies four weeks after two vaccines and 40% of people in the patient groups studied mounted a low serological immune response after two vaccines. Further studies including OCTAVE-DUO will provide evidence on immune response following subsequent vaccine doses. The Department is examining how these results may be used to inform which patient groups could benefit from pre-exposure prophylaxis.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 8 March 2022 to Question 131324 on Coronavirus: Preventive Medicine, if he will publish the findings of the commissioned independent expert groups on clinically eligible patient cohorts.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The findings will be published in due course.