To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, What steps his Department is taking to help ensure that (a) Sativex and (b) other medications for MS patients are (i) affordable and (ii) funded in (A) Nottinghamshire and (B) other areas.
Answered on
7 January 2025
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources.
The NICE has been able to recommend several medicines for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, including ublituximab, which has recently been recommended for treating relapsing multiple sclerosis in guidance published on 18 December 2024. The NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended in a NICE appraisal, usually within three months of final guidance.
The NICE guideline on cannabis-based medicinal products recommends that Sativex, a licensed cannabis-based product, should be offered for the treatment of moderate to severe spasticity in adults with multiple sclerosis, if other pharmacological treatments for spasticity are not effective. As Sativex has not been evaluated through the NICE’s technology appraisal programme, it is not subject to a funding requirement. Therefore, the decision on whether to prescribe must be taken by a specialist clinician on a case-by-case basis, and funding of this medicine is subject to local National Health Service decisions.
On 6 September 2021, NHS England issued a reminder to NHS trusts and commissioners, now integrated care boards, of the NICE’s guidance relating to Sativex, and their responsibilities. This resulted in an increase in the prescribing of this drug, and NHS England is monitoring uptake of prescribing, in-line with the NICE’s recommendations.