Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
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 impact of the UK leaving the EU on medicine shortages in the UK.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The United Kingdom left the European Union on 31 January 2020. The Department has not made a specific assessment of the potential impact on medicine shortages in the UK.
Medicine supply chains are complex, global, and highly regulated, and there are a number of reasons why supply can be disrupted, many of which are not specific to the UK and outside of Government control, including manufacturing difficulties, access to raw materials, sudden demand spikes or distribution issues, and regulatory issues. We have drawn on up-to-date intelligence and data on the root causes of medicine supply issues, with manufacturing problems being the most dominant root cause. The Department works closely with industry, the National Health Service, manufacturers, and other partners across the supply chain to make sure patients across the UK can access the medicines they need.
The resilience of UK supply chains is a key priority, and we are continually learning and seeking to improve the way we work to both manage and help prevent supply issues and avoid shortages. The Department, working closely with NHS England, is taking forward a range of actions to improve our ability to mitigate and manage shortages and to strengthen our resilience. As part of that work, we continue to engage with industry, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, and other colleagues across the supply chain as we progress work to co-design and deliver solutions. We have plans underway to increase the awareness of our work.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to provide financial support for research to small and medium-sized enterprises developing new tools for the (a) prevention, (b) diagnosis and (c) treatment of drug-resistant TB.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Department funds research mainly through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). As the most integrated clinical research system in the world, we drive research from bench to bedside for the benefit of patients and the economy. The NIHR funds high quality research to improve health, trains and supports health researchers, provides world-class research facilities, works with the life sciences industry and charities to benefit all, and involves patients and the public at every step.
The NIHR’s research programmes provide a flexible source of funding for researchers, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs), with the aim of improving public and patient health and care. Our Invention for Innovation (i4i) and Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation programmes accept applications from SMEs as lead applicants collaborating with a National Health Service and/or academic partner. Other NIHR programmes accept applications from SMEs as co-applicants.
Through the NIHR, the Government is also investing in research infrastructure in the NHS to ensure that we have the right facilities and people for a thriving research environment. The NIHR enables SMEs to access experts and develop collaborations within our world-leading infrastructure, supporting them to translate fundamental biomedical research into the clinical setting, run studies in the NHS and develop new treatments, diagnostics and medical devices.
The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including drug resistant tuberculosis (TB); it is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.
Research on TB and drug resistant TB is supported by the Department nationally through the NIHR and internationally through support for research programmes delivered through other Government departments.
Currently, a major part of the NIHR’s contribution to TB research is the Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU) on Respiratory Infections at Imperial College London. This started in 1 April 2014 and has received funding of £4.21 million. The HPRU is a collaboration between Public Health England, Imperial College and Oxford University and undertakes research on diagnostics, surveillance, treatment and management of TB.
Globally, the Department for Health and Social Care supports research on TB by SMEs through the Department for International Development (DFID). DFID is the UK Government’s lead to the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance) a not-for-profit product-development-partnership dedicated to the discovery, development and delivery of better, faster-acting and affordable TB drugs; and the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), which includes TB as one of its priority diseases. In 2017, the Department also provided financial support for research with a £4.5 million one off contribution through its Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) budget to the TB Alliance. The TB Alliance and FIND work with many different partners in the public, private (i.e. industry including SMEs), academic, and philanthropic sectors in a wide range of countries across the globe to develop new treatments and diagnostics for TB, including drug sensitive and drug resistant TB.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Government's policy paper, Collaboration on Science and Innovation: A Future Partnership Paper, published on 6 September 2017, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect on UK medical research and clinical trials of failing to retain access to EU-wide patient groups after the UK has left the EU.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Government's policy paper, ‘Collaboration on Science and Innovation: A Future Partnership Paper’, states that one of the United Kingdom’s core objectives during negotiations is to continue to collaborate with European partners to ensure that the UK remains one of the best places in the world for science and innovation. As part of exit negotiations, the Government will seek agreement with the European Union and Member States how best to continue cooperation in the field of medical research and clinical trials.
UK-based researchers can currently run multi-state clinical trials and this will still be the case whatever system of clinical trial authorisation is put in place after Brexit.