Antimicrobials

(asked on 12th November 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans are in place to ensure that the devolved nations can benefit from the initiatives in England to incentivise the development of new antimicrobials through innovative models for the evaluation and purchase of antimicrobials; and what the timeframe is for the roll-out of those initiatives.


Answered by
Jo Churchill Portrait
Jo Churchill
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 14th January 2021

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and NHS England and NHS Improvement are undertaking work to develop and test an innovative model for the evaluation and purchase of antimicrobials that will help incentivise investment in these drugs. The model will initially be tested through application to two antimicrobial products to be selected through a competitive procurement exercise currently underway. Successful products will undergo adapted Health Technology Assessments throughout 2021, and contracts between suppliers and the NHS in England are anticipated to start from April 2022.

It will be important to evaluate the model thoroughly before considering changes to routine commissioning policy. The devolved administrations are important stakeholders to the project and we continue to work with them to ensure the model is suitable for contexts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

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