Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when new drug, Sotorasib, will be available on the NHS for lung cancer patients.

Sotorasib was licensed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in September 2021 through Project Orbis. It is now being appraised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to determine whether it should be routinely funded on the National Health Service in England.

In view of the rapid approval of Project Orbis medicines, NHS England and NHS Improvement and NICE have developed an interim process to support patient access to medicines where there is a gap between Project Orbis licensing approval and publication of NICE guidance. Sotorasib is now available to NHS patients in England through an interim access deal agreed with the manufacturer. Decisions on access are a matter for the devolved administrations.