Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has taken recent steps to provide new medications for treating psoriasis on the NHS.

The Government wants all National Health Service patients to benefit from timely access to safe and effective new medicines in a way that represents value to the NHS. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) develops evidence-based guidance for the NHS on whether new medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources. NICE appraises all newly licensed medicines and aims to publish draft guidance around the time of licensing wherever possible. The NHS is legally required to fund medicines recommended by NICE, usually within three months of final guidance.

Since 2019, NICE has recommended several medicines for the treatment of patients with psoriasis meeting specified clinical criteria, including risankizumab, bimekizumab, tildrakizumab and deucravacitinib. The NHS is now legally required to routinely fund these treatments for eligible NHS patients in line with NICE’s recommendations.