Drugs: Supply and Availability

Lord Kakkar Excerpts

Wednesday 14th June 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Evans of Rainow (Con)]

I share the concerns of the noble Baroness. Medicine supply problems can occur for a number of reasons, and occasionally the NHS experiences shortages of specific medicines, which may be temporary and localised. We want to assure people that the department has well-established processes to prevent, manage and mitigate medicine shortages. The noble Baroness mentioned HRT. There are 70 hormone replacement therapy products, and the vast majority are in good supply. There have been issues with the supply of a limited numbers of HRT products, primarily due to a very sharp increase in demand, but the supply position for the majority of HRT products has improved considerably over the last year.

[Lord Kakkar (CB)]

My Lords, I draw the attention of the House to my registered interests. What assessment have His Majesty’s Government made of the importance of securing an effective environment for clinical research, in ensuring that major developers of innovative therapies continue to provide those therapies to the citizens of our country?

[Lord Evans of Rainow (Con)]

The noble Lord raises a very important point. The Government are always keen to engage with the development community on a case-by-case basis. As we have discussed from this Dispatch Box in the past, there are moneys available. It is very important that we all work closely together to make sure that those medicines of the future are made available for the population.