Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to reduce the time between EU marketing authorisation and NICE appraisal of treatments for serious and progressive conditions and improve the timeliness of making such treatments available to patients.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) routinely aims to publish draft technology appraisal guidance on new non-cancer drugs within six months of licensing, and to publish draft guidance on new cancer drugs before licensing.

National Health Service commissioners are legally required to make funding available for treatments recommended in NICE technology appraisal guidance within three months of the publication of guidance. In April 2017, NICE introduced a new fast track appraisal process that is designed to bring forward patient access to drugs where the company can demonstrate clear cost-effectiveness by around five months compared with the standard timescales.

The Government has also published the response to the Accelerated Access Review which includes the introduction of a new Accelerated Access Pathway and £86 million of funding to support medical innovations get to patients faster. This will streamline regulatory and market access decisions, getting breakthrough products that we believe will be truly transformative to patients more quickly, and will be operational from April 2018. All products including medical technologies, devices and diagnostics will be eligible for selection.