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<p>In developing policy on the rescheduling of cannabis-based products for medicinal
use, the Government has applied existing arrangements for accessing licensed and unlicensed
medicines on the National Health Service. The Department has not had discussions with
NHS England, manufacturers or the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
(NICE) on funding arrangements for accessing licensed or unlicensed cannabis-based
products, beyond the existing arrangements.</p><p>The recent changes to the law to
reschedule cannabis-based products for medicinal use, does not impact on the availability
of existing licensed cannabis-based medicinal products, such as Sativex and Nabilone.
Any medicines which receive a marketing authorisation from the Medicines and Healthcare
products Regulatory Agency or European Medicines Agency will be assessed for cost
effectiveness by NICE. This is the foundation of NHS decisions about routine funding,
and applies to all licensed medicines.</p><p>For unlicensed medicines, the normal
NHS medicines governance systems apply, as they do to all locally funded unlicensed
treatments. These processes support good clinical practice and safe and effective
prescribing. Decisions will be taken, at NHS trust level on a case by case basis,
based on the needs of the individual patient and the evidence of efficacy and cost
effectiveness available.</p><p><strong> </strong></p>
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