To ask the Minister of Health to detail why patients do not have access to abiraterone for treatment in relation to prostate cancer.

My Department has a formal link with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) under which NICE Technology Appraisals are reviewed locally for their legal and policy applicability here, and where found to be applicable, they are endorsed for implementation within Health and Social Care (HSC) organisations. This link has ensured that Northern Ireland has access to up-to-date, independent, professional, evidence-based guidance on the value of health care interventions. In practice this means that treatments that have been recommended by NICE for routine use in the NHS in England are also routinely available in Northern Ireland.

Where NICE has recommended the use of abiraterone (Zytiga®) in the treatment of prostate cancer, this medicine is available to eligible patients in Northern Ireland, in line with the current NICE guidelines. Further information on this treatment is available at the following links:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta259

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta387

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta951

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta1110

In circumstances where NICE is yet to complete a full appraisal, or does not recommend a particular drug, the Department’s Strategic Planning and Performance Group (SPPG) does not routinely commission that therapy for use in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland does not have its own health technology assessment body or equivalent to NICE, Scottish Medicines Consortium or All Wales Medicine Strategy Group, that could make a bespoke determination for Northern Ireland patients in the absence of NICE guidance.

My Department has recently published a review of HSC medicines access arrangements which recognises the need to take action to ensure continued access to clinically and cost-effective medicines for the Northern Ireland population on an equitable basis, including in cases where NICE have not made a determination, but use is supported by clinical evidence and best practice. Informed by the review’s recommendations, my Department plans to review the existing workforce infrastructure underpinning medicines access pathways to identify potential resource requirements needed to strengthen existing access arrangements, including for use of off-label and off-patent medicines where use is supported by clinical evidence and best practice. Any additional resource requirements for medicines access infrastructure, and additional costs associated with provision of access for off-label or off-patent medicines, will need to be considered within the context of my Department’s challenging financial position and competing priorities.