Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the availability of tuberculosis medication on the provision of healthcare in London.

Medicine supply chains are complex, global, and highly regulated, and there are a number of reasons why supply can be disrupted, many of which are not specific to the United Kingdom and are outside of Government control, including manufacturing difficulties, access to raw materials, sudden demand spikes or distribution issues, and regulatory issues. There are approximately 14,000 licensed medicines and the overwhelming majority are in good supply. Where there are supply issues, these are managed at a national level across the UK rather than at a regional level.

NHS England has been notified of some issues with medicines used to treat tuberculosis (TB), however there is sufficient stock available from alternative suppliers to meet normal demand for most of them. The products facing current disruptions include Voractiv tablets until late June 2025, and rifampicin 150 milligram capsules until mid-August 2025, both due to manufacturing delays. Comprehensive management plans were communicated to healthcare professionals on 1 June 2025, highlighting issues with TB medicines and advising of the actions to take during this time.

NHS England is actively working with the affected suppliers to address these supply issues as quickly as possible to ensure that UK patients have access to the medications they need.

The team are working intensively to improve the availability of TB medicines, which includes co-ordinating with the British Thoracic Society to ensure centres treating active TB have access to available supplies, and directing trusts to build buffer stocks of unlicensed imports of TB medicines whilst there is a supply issue with some UK licensed products. The team are also supporting the impacted supplier and trusts to ensure that the available TB medicine supplies are equitably distributed and allocated fairly across the UK. The team is continuing to explore medium to long term solutions to the supply issues, working with those mentioned as well as the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and clinicians within the NHS.