Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to address the reported practice of drugs manufacturers supplying unlicensed medicines or special orders to the NHS at an inflated cost.

Our priority is to ensure that patients have access to safe and effective medicines.

For unlicensed medicines known as ‘specials’, reimbursement arrangements are in place that provide value for money in the majority of instances.

No company should exploit the National Health Service. That is why the Department will lay new regulations in the next few months that will require all specials manufacturers to provide information to the Department related to their sales. This will provide more transparency about the costs of specials and make our reimbursement arrangements more robust.