Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on increasing the availability of the ovarian cancer drug Zejula.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based recommendations on whether new medicines represent value for money for the National Health Service in England.

NICE may recommend promising new cancer drugs for use in the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) where there is potential for the drug to be considered for routine commissioning but there is significant remaining clinical uncertainty which needs more investigation through data collection in the NHS or clinical trials.

In July 2018 NICE published guidance recommending niraparib (brand name Zejula) for use within the CDF as an option for treating relapsed, platinum-sensitive high-grade serious epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer, that has responded to the most recent course of platinum-based chemotherapy in adults who have had two or more courses of platinum-based chemotherapy. Niraparib is now available to NHS patients through the CDF in line with this guidance.

In March 2019, the Department asked NICE to conduct an appraisal of niraparib for maintenance treatment of advanced ovarian, fallopian tube and peritoneal cancer after response to first-line platinum-based chemotherapy. NICE expects to publish final guidance in February 2021.