Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reason the list price for (a) telaprevir, (b) boceprevir, (c) simeprevir, (d) sofosbuvir and (e) ledipasvir-sofosbuvir hepatitis C treatment is higher in the NHS than in other countries.

These hepatitis C medicines were all granted new active substance marketing authorisations by the licensing authorities. Under the terms of the 2014 Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme new active substances can be priced at the discretion of companies on entering the market. However, the National Health Service is involved in commercial activities with the relevant pharmaceutical companies to secure best value in hepatitis C treatment. Discounts secured mean that the actual prices paid for medicines often do not reflect list prices. Confidential discounts occur in other countries too, which makes it impossible to undertake price comparisons with other countries.