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Cancer: Drugs

Question for Department of Health and Social Care

UIN 13599, tabled on 7 February 2024

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she (a) has had and (b) plans to have with (i) brain tumour research charities and (ii) other organisations working to secure UK access to (A) Vorasidenib and (B) other new drugs for cancers of unmet need.

Answered on

19 February 2024

Department ministers and officials regularly meet with charities and other organisations working to improve outcomes for patients with cancer, including brain tumours, through access to new medicines.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations on whether all new medicines should be routinely funded by the National Health Service based on an assessment of their costs and benefits and aims to publish guidance as close as possible to licensing. NICE engages with stakeholders, including charities, in the development of its recommendations. NICE is currently developing guidance for the NHS on the use of Vorasidenib.