AQW 33823/22-27

Ms Paula Bradshaw
Alliance Party
South Belfast

Tabled Date: 17/10/2025
Answered On Date: 03/11/2025
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Health whether the long-acting injectable form of HIV prevention treatment, cabotegravir (CAB-LA), which has been approved for use on the NHS in England, Wales and Scotland, is available to patients in Northern Ireland.

Answer:

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. In practice, this means that treatments that have been recommended by NICE for routine use in the NHS in England are also available in Northern Ireland.

On 17 October 2025, NICE published its final draft guidance recommending the use of cabotegravir (Apretude®) as an option for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) alongside safer sex practices to reduce the risk of sexually acquired HIV-1 infection in adults and young people at high risk of getting HIV if they cannot have oral PrEP. Final guidance is expected on 5 November 2025.

When the final guidance for this treatment is issued by NICE, my Department will consider it under the usual process for NICE Technology Appraisals as per the guidance set out in circular HSC (SQSD) 12/22 which is available at:

https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/health/doh-hsc-sqsd-12-22.pdf .