§ Mr. AllanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to introduce national prescribing policies for(a) Aricept and (b) beta-interferon. [18599]
§ Mr. MilburnWe have no plans to introduce national prescribing policies specific to Aricept or beta-interferon. EL(94)72, issued in 1994, asked health authorities to set up Area Prescribing Committees to ensure the appropriateness of hospital-led prescribing and to develop authority-wide policies for the managed entry of new drugs such as Aircept and beta-interferon into the NHS. Copies of EL(94)72 are available in the Library.
The White Paper, published today, sets out plans for a National Institute for Clinical Excellence which advises the NHS on the clinical and cost effectiveness of treatments. Individual health authorities will then be able to make more informed judgments on the relative benefits of treatments.