HL Deb 27 February 2001 vol 622 cc123-4WA
Lord Morris of Manchester

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answers by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 5 and 12 February on the provision of recombinant clotting factors (WA 92 and WA 13), when they expect to announce the outcome of the consideration they are currently giving to making this treatment available to all adult haemophilia patients in England; and how their estimate of the cost at £50 million is computed. [HL767]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath)

To meet the needs of all haemophilia patients in England currently on plasma derived clotting factors, we estimate that 110 million units of recombinant Factor 8 would be needed at an additional cost of 30.7p per unit and 31.5 million units of recombinant Factor 9 at an additional cost of 42p per unit. This gives a total cost of £47 million for recombinant products currently in production. Costs for third generation, totally synthetic products, are likely to be higher. The calculation is based on data collected from haemophilia centres by the United Kingdom Haemophilia Centre Doctors Organisation and represents a provisional estimate.

The Government are continuing to give careful consideration to this issue.