UK PARLIAMENT
The House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee has called on the government to provide more clarity on the UK–US life sciences deal, which promised 0% tariffs on UK pharmaceutical exports to the United States.
In a letter sent to Liz Kendall, secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, on 19 January 2026, Dame Chi Onwurah MP, chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, asked whether the deal would affect existing NHS budgets and government departmental costs.
She requested more information on how the cost of the deal and accompanying policy changes — estimated at £1bn in the current spending review period — was calculated, particularly “whether it factors in estimated taxes and revenues based on projected behaviour on the part of companies”.
Onwurah also called for further clarity on what investment the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) would make into the ‘Voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing, access and growth’ (VPAG), to which it had previously committed.
In a letter to the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, sent on 18 December 2025, Kendall wrote: “The government will also be investing 25% more in new innovative medicines, delivered through a change in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s cost-effectiveness threshold and the introduction of a new value set for valuing health-related quality of life.
“To ensure the full benefit of these changes is felt both by patients and by the companies who are delivering these innovations, the DHSC will make an investment into the VPAG baseline, so that the 25% price increase is not recouped by the scheme’s repayments.
“We will also ensure the future VPAG headline payment percentage does not exceed 15% for the remainder of the scheme,” she added.
The DHSC has previously confirmed to The Pharmaceutical Journal that the extra funding would come from the uplift the department received in its budget at the 2025 spending review.
Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme on 3 December 2025, health secretary Wes Streeting said: “We are not going to cut NHS services to fund this.”
However, some health economists argue that the rest of the NHS will lose out when spending on new branded medicines is increased.
