Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will request that NICE work with the manufacturers of nivolumab to ensure patients with lung cancer can access that medicine at the earliest opportunity.

No such assessment has been made. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is currently appraising nivolumab (Opdivo) for squamous non-small cell lung cancer and has not yet issued its final guidance.

In developing its technology appraisal guidance, NICE works closely with stakeholders, including manufacturers. NICE’s consultation on its draft guidance closed on 19 January 2016.

In the absence of NICE guidance, it is for commissioners to make funding decisions based on the available evidence.