Written question asked by Kerry McCarthy (Labour) on Monday, 3 June 2019, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 6 June 2019 (named day). It was answered by Seema Kennedy (Conservative) on Thursday, 6 June 2019 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

NHS: Drugs

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Government’s decision to not support the World Health Assembly's resolution on greater transparency for drug pricing on the affordability of medicines in the UK.

Answer: The United Kingdom participates in various transparency initiatives, including the European Integrated Price Information Database, the World Health Organization’s Pharmaceutical Pricing Reimbursement Information Network, and the Global Fund Price and Quality Database. However, the UK has a long-established and globally-recognised track record of assessing the price of new, innovative medicines according to their clinical value, rather than pricing by their development costs or international reference prices. We believe that is the right approach: ensuring the development of the best medicines in areas of high unmet need are rewarded. The Government could not, therefore, agree to a resolution which had the potential to increase medicines prices and reduce patient access, by reducing the ability of the NHS to undertake commercial negotiations with pharmaceutical companies on the price of new medicines. The approach taken by the National Health Service has meant we were the first country in Europe to offer innovative CAR-T therapies, alongside many other new medicines.

Secondary information