PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Cystic Fibrosis: Medical Treatments (5 July 2017)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of agreeing a portfolio approach with Vertex Pharmaceuticals to secure accelerated access through the NHS to that company's current and future treatments for cystic fibrosis.

Asked by:
Kerry McCarthy (Labour)

Ministers and Government officials have had a number of discussions with Vertex and NHS England in which the availability of Orkambi for the treatment of cystic fibrosis was raised.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body that develops guidance for the National Health Service on whether new drugs and treatments represent a clinically and cost effective use of resources.

NICE published final guidance on the use of Orkambi (lumacaftor-ivacaftor) for treating cystic fibrosis homozygous for the F508del mutation in July 2016 that does not recommend this treatment.

Where NICE has not been able to recommend a treatment, funding decisions should be made by the relevant NHS commissioner, based on an assessment of the available evidence.

Answered by:
Steve Brine (Conservative)
10 July 2017