Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Life Sciences Industrial Stategy, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the UK enters the top quartile of comparator countries for the speed of (a) adoption and (b) uptake of innovative, cost-effective medicines by 2023.

The Life Sciences Industrial Strategy (LSIS) set out a vision of being a world-leader in developing and bringing to market innovative medicines to improve patient outcomes. The strategy, developed by the sector, included a strategic ambition for the UK to be in the top quartile of comparator countries for speed of adoption. The Government welcomes the ambition of the LSIS, and partners across the system are committed to maximising the appropriate use of innovative medicines to deliver better patient outcomes and support the long-term sustainability of the National Health Service.

In December 2017, the Government published the Life Sciences Sector Deal, which detailed our commitments to taking forward the ambition in the LSIS. This included implementing the response to the Accelerated Access Review, which sets out a plan to increase the rate of uptake of innovative products. Progress to date includes establishing the Accelerated Access Collaborative which brings partners across the system together with the shared ambition of improving access to innovation in the NHS; developing the new Accelerated Access Pathway which will identify breakthrough treatments and get them to patients faster, and delivering £86 million funding to improve access to innovation, including by increasing the capacity and strengthening the mandate for the Academic Health and Science Networks.