Select committee calls for clarity on funding for US–UK pharma trade deal

A letter from the House of Commons Science Innovation and Technology Committee has asked the government for more information on the cost of the US–UK pharmaceutical trade deal and whether existing NHS budgets will be affected.

Dame Chi Onwurah, chair of the House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee — In a letter sent to health secretary Wes Streeting, Dame Chi Onwurah (pictured) requested that the government provides adequate answers to the questions raised by 9 January 2026

Dame Chi Onwurah MP, chair of the House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, has written to health secretary Wes Streeting to ask how much the US–UK pharmaceutical trade deal will cost the UK each year.

In the letter sent on 16 December 2025, Onwurah highlights the increase in quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) thresholds used by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which will raise to between £25,000 and £35,000/QALY.

The QALY thresholds are the amount per drug that NICE can consider cost-effective for the NHS. The threshold had previously been set at £20,000 to £30,000.

Onwurah also mentioned the cap on the ‘Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing, Access and Growth’ (VPAG) — a levy that manufacturers pay to the government on the sales of branded medicines to the NHS — which, as part of the deal, will be reduced to 15% from a current 23.5%.

“How much will the deal — and accompanying increase in QALY thresholds and the cap on VPAG — cost per year?” Onwurah asks.

”Will this come from existing NHS budgets and, if so, which areas will lose out?”

In a press release issued on 19 December 2025, Onwurah said: “I’m writing again to the government to get much-needed clarity on the US deal.”

“There’s currently very little information available on how much the deal will cost and how much of that cost will be taken from the NHS’s already stretched budget. The committee also needs answers to our initial questions on life sciences investment, which went largely unanswered in the government’s reply.”

In the letter, Onwurah expressed disappointment with the previous responses to those questions.

She asked for a new response that “adequately addresses my original questions”, as well as the additional matters raised, by 9 January 2026.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) previously told The Pharmaceutical Journal that the extra funding would come from the uplift the department received in its budget until 2028/2029 at the 2025 spending review.

DHSC has been approached for comment.