Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the Access to Medical Treatments (Innovation) Bill on reducing the length of time it takes to bring a new drug to market.
The purpose of the Access to Medical Treatments (Innovation) Bill is to promote access to innovative medical treatments. It is not specifically designed to reduce the length of time it takes to bring a new drug to market. To which end work is being done in parallel, notably through the Accelerated Access Review, which explores options to speed up access to innovative drugs, devices and diagnostics for National Health Service patients. Sir Hugh Taylor, the independent chair of the review will make his recommendations in the spring.