PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Drugs: Finance (27 May 2015)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of plans in Scotland to double the New Medicines Fund; and what his policy is on creating such a fund in England.

Asked by:
Kerry McCarthy (Labour)

It is a matter for the Scottish Government to decide how to use the apportioned payments they receive from the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS).

The Government has no plans to create a New Medicines Fund in England.

The Government established the Cancer Drugs Fund to ensure that cancer patients in England have better access to life-extending and improving drugs not routinely funded by the National Health Service. Between October 2010 and December 2014 the Fund has helped over 67,000 cancer patients.

The Government is implementing all of the commitments in the PPRS on improving access to innovative medicines commensurate with the outcomes they offer patients. In addition, NHS England and the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry are pressing ahead with plans to maximise the benefits of the PPRS by improving access to and optimising the use of medicines to improve patient outcomes.

In addition the Accelerated Access Review is looking at a range of proposals for accelerating access to innovative medicines to NHS patients and the potential for securing more value from the NHS research infrastructure in commissioning innovative medicines.

Answered by:
George Freeman (Conservative)
1 June 2015