Valerie Vaz – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2015-10-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the BCG vaccines for non-invasive grade 3 aggressive bladder cancer.

George Freeman

One of the two United Kingdom licensed Bacillus Calmette-Guérin bladder instillations has been unavailable since 2012, and the manufacturer of the other has increased its production as far as possible to help meet the shortfall. The Department and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency are working closely with both suppliers, as well as others in the supply chain, to ensure that everything possible is being done to make supplies available for patients who need this treatment. The British Association of Urological Surgeons has issued advice for clinicians to ensure that all patients with high risk, non-muscle invasive bladder cancer receive effective evidence based treatment.