Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make a comparative assessment of the adequacy of the reasons the (a) National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has been unable and (b) Scottish Medicines Consortium has been able to recommend Enhertu for use on the NHS.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes authoritative, evidence-based recommendations for the National Health Service in England on whether new licensed medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS, based on an assessment of their costs and benefits. Decisions on the availability of medicines in Scotland are a matter for the devolved administration.

The NICE published guidance in 2021 and 2023 recommending Enhertu, also known as trastuzumab deruxtecan, for the treatment of NHS patients with HER2-positive breast cancer through the Cancer Drugs Fund, and it is now available to eligible NHS patients in England in line with the NICE’s recommendations.

The NICE is currently evaluating Enhertu for the treatment of metastatic HER2-low breast cancer, and has not yet published final guidance. Stakeholders have had an opportunity to appeal against the NICE’s draft recommendations, and the NICE will consider any appeals through the established process and publish final guidance in due course.