Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has been made of the adequacy of access for stage 4 cancer patients to (a) Evashield and (b) other drugs that help increase resistance to covid-19.

Patients with active metastatic cancer are eligible for novel antiviral and antibody treatment in the community through the COVID Medicine Delivery Units. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency highlighted the uncertainty of the appropriate dose of pre-exposure prophylactic medications, such as Evusheld, for protection against the Omicron variant. Understanding the efficacy of these treatments is necessary prior to any procurement or deployment. The UK Health Security Agency is currently undertaking further testing on Evusheld’s effectiveness against the Omicron variant. This will inform any decisions on the procurement of this treatment.