Andrew Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2015-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to his Department’s report, Hepatitis C in the UK, published in July 2014, what steps he is taking to approve for use new treatments for people with hepatitis C-related liver damage.
George Freeman
The Government is committed to ensuring that patients have access to clinically and cost effective treatments, including those for hepatitis C.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for providing advice to the National Health Service on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of health technologies.
NICE is currently appraising a number of new drugs for use in the treatment of hepatitis C under its technology appraisal process. These are shown in the following table.
|
Drug/indication |
Expected date of final guidance |
|
sofosbuvir (Sovaldi) for treating chronic hepatitis C |
February 2015 |
|
simeprevir (Olysio) for treating genotype 1 or 4 chronic hepatitis C |
February 2015 |
|
ledipasvir-sofosbuvir (Harvoni) for treating chronic hepatitis C |
June 2015 |
|
daclatasvir (Daklinza) for treating chronic hepatitis C |
August 2015 |
|
ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir (Viekirax) with or without dasabuvir (Exviera) for treating chronic hepatitis C |
September 2015 |
More generally, we have launched an Innovative Medicines and Medical Technology Review of the pathways for the development, assessment, and adoption of innovative medicines and medical technology. This review will consider how to speed up access for NHS patients to cost-effective new diagnostics, medicines and devices.
The review will examine the pathway from ‘first in human’ trials, through licensing and health technology appraisal, to commissioning and clinical practice. It will set out both short and long-term options for action by Government and relevant bodies, including NICE, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and NHS England, and mark a major contribution to the policy debate.
