Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the NHS Commercial Framework on access to medicines through managed access agreements.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
NHS England and NHS Improvement has advised that the Commercial Framework for new medicines remains in draft at this time with publication expected in spring 2020. The Commercial Framework is designed to complement the processes and methods of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s technology appraisal programme which provides direction on when managed access agreements may be appropriate. The framework will promote the opportunities that currently exist and clarify NHS England and NHS Improvement’s involvement within the existing arrangements rather than advising on new opportunities for managed access agreements.
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what Cancer Drugs Fund expenditure cap is for (a) 2019-20 and (b) 2020-21.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government established the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) to ensure access for National Health Service patients in England to effective cancer drugs that would not otherwise have been available to them. New arrangements for the assessment and adoption of new cancer drugs were introduced in 2016 to help improve patient access to new cancer drugs and the CDF is now linked to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) technology appraisal programme.
Under the new arrangements, NICE now appraises all new cancer drugs, and NICE is able to recommend a drug for use through the CDF where there is too much uncertainty to be able to recommend routine use. All cancer drugs recommended by NICE are eligible for funding through the CDF from the point of NICE’s draft guidance.
Since it was reformed in July 2016, the CDF has had a fixed budget of £340 million. This will remain the same for 2020-21.
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
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 26 February 2020 to Question 18744 on Medical Treatments: Innovation,whether he plans to hold a public consultation on his proposals for an innovative medicines fund.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Detailed proposals for the new Innovative Medicines Fund are in development and will be consulted on in due course. The Fund will build on the success of the reformed Cancer Drugs Fund so that doctors can use the most advanced, life-saving treatments for conditions such as autoimmune disease or cancer, or for children with other rare diseases.
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps Public Health England plans to take to assess the effectiveness of the HPV vaccination programme.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Public Health England (PHE) is conducting surveillance activities to monitor the effectiveness of the National Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccination Programme. The current HPV vaccine protects against two high-risk HPV types, HPV16 and HPV18 which cause around 80% of cervical cancers in the United Kingdom and two low-risk HPV types, HPV6 and HPV11 which cause most genital warts.
Surveillance conducted among young sexually active women in England has compared changes in the number of women who have a HPV infection over time since the introduction of the HPV vaccination.
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether human papillomavirus screening is able to identify specific strains of that virus.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Human papillomavirus (HPV) testing is the primary screening test used in the National Health Service Cervical Screening Programme. This can be reviewed at the following links:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/human-papilloma-virus-hpv/
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/cervical-screening-programme-overview
While there are many different types of HPV, the screening programme in England uses tests to detect for HPV 16, 18 and several other high-risk HPV types. HPV 16 and 18 are the two most common high-risk strains of HPV that are found in 99.8% of cervical cancer cases. This can be viewed at the following link:
The results from a HPV screen test will indicate to the individual whether they are HPV positive or negative and the next steps.
HPV infection is very common and most abnormalities that develop as a result will clear themselves without intervention or treatment.
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination status of the patient will be recorded under the new HPV primary screening programme.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Human papillomavirus (HPV) testing is the primary screening test used in the National Health Service Cervical Screening Programme. This can be reviewed at the following links:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/human-papilloma-virus-hpv/
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/cervical-screening-programme-overview
While there are many different types of HPV, the screening programme in England uses tests to detect for HPV 16, 18 and several other high-risk HPV types. HPV 16 and 18 are the two most common high-risk strains of HPV that are found in 99.8% of cervical cancer cases. This can be viewed at the following link:
The results from a HPV screen test will indicate to the individual whether they are HPV positive or negative and the next steps.
HPV infection is very common and most abnormalities that develop as a result will clear themselves without intervention or treatment.
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether there are circumstances under which Specialist Importers may import cannabis-based active pharmaceutical ingredients for use in the manufacturing of cannabis-based products for medicinal use in the UK.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Unlicensed cannabis-based products for medicinal use (CBPM) may only be imported to meet the special clinical need of individual patients. It is not currently possible to import bulk quantities of these products. This restriction forms part of the checks and balances that the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs asked the Government to put in place when rescheduling CBPMs to minimise the risk of misuse and diversion.
The Medicines and Healthcare products and Regulatory Agency has received 242 notifications for the importation of unlicensed CBPMs from specialist importers in the past 12 months.
Unlicensed medicines, including CBPMs are not assessed by the MHRA for quality, safety and efficacy, but must be notified to the MHRA prior to import and meet basic production standards.
Importers registered with the MHRA can import active pharmaceutical ingredients where intended for the production of a medicinal product for use in humans.
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has assessed the (a) safety and (b) quality of unlicensed cannabis-based products for medicinal use.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Unlicensed cannabis-based products for medicinal use (CBPM) may only be imported to meet the special clinical need of individual patients. It is not currently possible to import bulk quantities of these products. This restriction forms part of the checks and balances that the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs asked the Government to put in place when rescheduling CBPMs to minimise the risk of misuse and diversion.
The Medicines and Healthcare products and Regulatory Agency has received 242 notifications for the importation of unlicensed CBPMs from specialist importers in the past 12 months.
Unlicensed medicines, including CBPMs are not assessed by the MHRA for quality, safety and efficacy, but must be notified to the MHRA prior to import and meet basic production standards.
Importers registered with the MHRA can import active pharmaceutical ingredients where intended for the production of a medicinal product for use in humans.
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many notifications the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has received from (a) pharmacies and (b) Specialist Importers on importation orders for unlicensed cannabis-based products for medicinal use in the last 12 months.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Unlicensed cannabis-based products for medicinal use (CBPM) may only be imported to meet the special clinical need of individual patients. It is not currently possible to import bulk quantities of these products. This restriction forms part of the checks and balances that the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs asked the Government to put in place when rescheduling CBPMs to minimise the risk of misuse and diversion.
The Medicines and Healthcare products and Regulatory Agency has received 242 notifications for the importation of unlicensed CBPMs from specialist importers in the past 12 months.
Unlicensed medicines, including CBPMs are not assessed by the MHRA for quality, safety and efficacy, but must be notified to the MHRA prior to import and meet basic production standards.
Importers registered with the MHRA can import active pharmaceutical ingredients where intended for the production of a medicinal product for use in humans.
Asked by: Crispin Blunt (Independent - Reigate)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether there are circumstances under which Specialist Importers of cannabis-based products for medicinal use are permitted to import that product in bulk.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Unlicensed cannabis-based products for medicinal use (CBPM) may only be imported to meet the special clinical need of individual patients. It is not currently possible to import bulk quantities of these products. This restriction forms part of the checks and balances that the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs asked the Government to put in place when rescheduling CBPMs to minimise the risk of misuse and diversion.
The Medicines and Healthcare products and Regulatory Agency has received 242 notifications for the importation of unlicensed CBPMs from specialist importers in the past 12 months.
Unlicensed medicines, including CBPMs are not assessed by the MHRA for quality, safety and efficacy, but must be notified to the MHRA prior to import and meet basic production standards.
Importers registered with the MHRA can import active pharmaceutical ingredients where intended for the production of a medicinal product for use in humans.