Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 12 March 2018 to Question 130778 on Nabiximols, what progress his Department has made on reducing the cost of the drug Sativex.

The Department has had no discussions on reducing the cost of Savitex. The decision to prescribe and fund a licensed treatment on the National Health Service is taken by the relevant clinician and commissioner (such as NHS England or individual clinical commissioning groups) based on the individual needs of the patient.

When the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published its guideline on the treatment of adults with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2014, it recommended that Sativex should not be offered as an option to treat spasticity in people with MS because it is not a cost effective treatment. NICE is responsible for determining whether its guidance should be updated following the publication of any significant new evidence.