Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what new personalised treatments for glioblastoma are being assessed.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for assessing new medicines to ensure they meet the required standards of quality, safety, and efficacy before they can be authorised for use in the United Kingdom. The MHRA conducts a rigorous, evidence‑based scientific review of all applications for marketing authorisation and assesses them against statutory timelines. Northwest Biotherapeutics has submitted a marketing authorisation application to the MHRA for DCVax®-L, an immunotherapy for glioblastoma. The MHRA cannot comment on individual applications while they are under assessment but is committed to enabling safe and effective new treatments to reach patients as quickly as possible once the necessary standards are met.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations for the National Health Service on whether all new licensed medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS based on an assessment of clinical and cost effectiveness. NICE aims wherever possible to issue recommendations on new medicines close to the time of licensing. NICE is in discussions with the manufacturer of DCVax-L, Northwest Biotherapeutics, about a potential appraisal subject to licensing.
Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure NHS professionals are aware of personalised cancer vaccines.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad (CVLP) is a platform set up to accelerate the development of cancer vaccines and speed up access to mRNA personalised cancer vaccine clinical trials for cancer patients. The CVLP has been instrumental in accelerating trial activity in cancer research, with CVLP sites driving faster activation and enrolment timelines.
The CVLP provides an extended network of referral sites to broaden trial access and to identify eligible patients through genetic analysis, working with the Vaccine Innovation Pathway to optimise patient recruitment. This means that patients can be recruited from across parts of the country and means that the United Kingdom was the fastest recruiting country for the first international trial of personalised vaccination after surgery for colorectal cancer.
As the CVLP continues its phased scale-up across the country, professional awareness is being driven by the expansion of participating trial sites and use of the referral network.
Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to help small-volume automotive manufacturers access the US market.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Economic Prosperity Deal has reduced tariffs for UK exporters in critical sectors such as the car industry - this includes a preferential rate of 10% on 100,000 UK cars exported to the US each year.
The UK exports around 100,000 cars a year, so this quota will ensure most cars entering the US will do so at a preferential rate.
We are also providing targeted export support through our exports programme and engaging in wider trade policy dialogues with the US.