Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many medicines for the treatment of rare diseases have been selected for assessment by the "Commissioning through Evaluation" mechanism.

The Commissioning through Evaluation programme was established by NHS England in 2013 as an innovative mechanism to capture further evaluative data to inform future clinical commissioning policy in areas that show significant promise, but with insufficient existing evidence of clinical and/or cost effectiveness to support routine National Health Service funding.

Five schemes are already in progress (selective internal radiation therapy, selective dorsal rhizotomy, Mitraclip, left atrial appendage occlusion and patent foramen ovale). These initial schemes all cover procedures, rather than drug treatments, at this stage.

NHS England will consider the potential for any further schemes as part of the wider resource prioritisation process in place.