Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the availability of child-friendly formulations of medicines used to treat tuberculosis for children in England and Wales.

Rifampicin 100mg/5ml oral suspension is available as a licensed product and is currently the only paediatric tuberculosis formulation monitored by NHS England. Supply levels were last reviewed on 21 September and were considered sufficient to meet current demand.

Pyrazinamide 500mg/5ml oral suspension, isoniazid 100mg/5ml oral suspension, ethambutol 400mg/5ml oral solution and pyridoxine 100mg/5ml oral suspension are not available as licensed products. However, they may be obtained as unlicensed medicines through importation or specialist manufacturing arrangements. United Kingdom legislation allows clinicians to prescribe unlicensed medicines where a patient has a special clinical need that cannot be met by a licensed product. The prescribing and use of an unlicensed medicine is a matter for the responsible clinician.

Health is devolved, and the availability and management of medicines within the National Health Service in Wales is a matter for the Welsh Government.