Sharon Hodgson response to Scottish Medicines Consortium’s decision to provide Kadcyla and PrEP on the NHS

Sharon
Hodgson MP, Shadow Minister for Public Health, commenting on
the Scottish Medicines Consortium’s decision to provide Kadcyla and PrEP on the
NHS, said:

“It
is welcoming to see that both Kadcyla and PrEP will now be funded by the NHS in
Scotland, after the concerted campaigning of different organisations and
individuals who will benefit directly by these drugs now being made
accessible. 

“These
decisions are game-changing. Not only in the fact that they will help the many
people in Scotland who rely upon these drugs, but also by highlighting a
failure to act here in England, where Kadcyla has been provisionally rejected
by NICE and is now under review and PrEP, which faced a long, drawn-out court
battle, is going through yet another trial.

“These
announcements must make NHS England and Jeremy Hunt sit up and listen. We need
concerted action to ensure we don’t see disparities in the drug treatments on
offer in Scotland and England. The Tory Government should be doing all they can
to provide access to these treatments for those who need them.”