Beta Interferon (Hansard, 28 March 2000)

§ 1. Mr. Andrew Stunell (Hazel Grove)
What estimate he has made of the additional cost to the NHS of permitting prescription of beta interferon wherever clinically indicated. [115148]

§ The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr. John Denham)
No estimate has been made, since opinions vary about when beta interferon is clinically indicated. We have referred beta interferon to the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, and we expect to receive its draft report at the end of May.

§ Mr. Stunell
I am sure that, in the next 60 minutes, we will hear several times about the large amounts of money going into the NHS. Will the Minister give an undertaking that when the decision on beta interferon is made, affordability will not be a barrier, and that treatment levels of the drug will rise to the European level of 12 per cent. against the current 3 per cent?

§ Mr. Denham
It is for NICE to give guidance on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of beta interferon to enable us to make the best use of resources. It remains, as it always has been, the responsibility of Ministers to determine the level of resources available in the NHS. 202 I am particularly pleased that, in last week's Budget, a substantial increase in resources for the NHS was announced.

§ Mr. Harry Barnes (North-East Derbyshire)
Has the Minister seen the league tables in The Mirror today which show the health authority provision of medicines and drugs, with a variety of provision for beta interferon? Some areas are not supplied, some are partially supplied and some are fully supplied. What lessons does my hon. Friend draw from that information?

§ Mr. Denham
I draw the lesson that the Conservative party is the mother and father of the postcode lottery in care. The following of the guidance on the prescription of beta interferon, which was introduced by the previous Government, remains, and has led to this situation. I am pleased that this Government have been able to set up NICE, which will tackle the postcode lottery of care, and that we have been able to announce a substantial increase in resources for the NHS to enable spending on the treatment of patients to increase.

§ Mrs. Ann Winterton (Congleton)
The national health service is supposed to be precisely that—national. Multiple sclerosis patients have a right to expect that, where it is clinically approved, they should have the drug of their choice. When will the Minister take charge of the situation, and not use NICE as a cop-out?

§ Mr. Denham
The hon. Lady must know that the guidance currently being followed by the NHS was introduced several years ago by the previous Administration. It is precisely because the Government were not happy with that situation that we created NICE. We referred beta interferon to it as one of its first year's programmes of work. We look forward to receiving advice later this summer, as this is the only way in which we can tackle the postcode lottery of care from which so many people are suffering.

§ Mr. Nick Ainger (West Carmarthen and South Pembrokeshire)
Does my hon. Friend agree that there is another drug, prostocyclin, with the same problems as beta interferon, in that health authorities cannot afford to pay for it? As a result, patients are dying. In the United States, the same British-made drug is four times cheaper than it is here. Is not the solution that those high-priced drugs with relatively small use are modulated, in that their prices drop to an affordable level while the general price of drugs provided by the same drug company is slightly increased? If so, the price to the NHS would remain the same; we would not have postcode prescribing; and, in the case of prostocyclin, patients would live.

§ Mr. Denham
I am aware of my hon. Friend's concerns about the use of prostocyclin for pulmonary hypertension. This drug has not been licensed to treat that condition, which means that it is prescribable only on a named-patient basis. That means that it is being prescribed in small numbers, and there are not the economies of scale that are seen in America, where the drug is more widely licensed. In general, US drug prices are some 70 per cent. higher than in the NHS. The pharmaceutical price regulation scheme will save some £200 million in the coming year from the drugs budget, which will become 203 resources that are available for the NHS to treat patients. Treatment of the condition is being considered by the national specialist commissioning advisory group at present.

§ Mrs. Caroline Spelman (Meriden)
The fact that affordability was slipped into the criteria used by NICE by virtue of a statutory instrument amending the Health Act 1999 would mean that NICE, in deciding on treatments such as beta interferon, could be at odds with the Secretary of State, who said on 8 March: I take decisions about affordability."—[Official Report, 8 March 2000; Vol. 345, c. 1022.] If NICE agrees that beta interferon is an effective treatment, will the Minister still stand in the way by saying that it is not affordable to the NHS?

§ Mr. Denham
As I have already said, the ultimate determinant of affordability is the level of resources available to the national health service. I am very proud that, over the next four years, this Government are committed to putting a level of resources into the national health service that will be twice the rate of increase achieved by the previous Conservative Government, under whose stewardship so many of the problems arose. If a Conservative Government were returned to power, they would return to a policy of postcode lottery and underfunding. They would promote a policy of forcing patients to buy their own drugs.