The deal, which was announced this month, is expected to result in additional annual drug purchasing costs of around £1bn, with the Government yet to spell out how this will be paid for.

Speaking to the Health and Social Care Committee yesterday, Streeting said: ‘I am absolutely confident we will not cut NHS budgets to fund this.'

Streeting said if the NHS was not able to absorb the additional cost within its existing budget it would hold talks with the Treasury.

‘We are not interested in cutting frontline services to fund the US pharma deal,' he added.

The health and social care secretary said the agreement, which guarantees zero tariffs on imports of UK pharmaceuticals, had delivered ‘a really good outcome considering the pressures and constraints the negotiating team were working under'.

Speaking to Healthcare Management last month, Sally Gainsbiry, chief policy analyst at the Nuffield Trust, said there would be an opportunity cost for the NHS with funding that could have been spent on frontline services being spent on higher drug prices.

‘If you think of what the purpose of the NHS budget is, you would not be about to spend a £1bn or more extra on new branded medicines,' Gainsbury said. 

‘That is not where that extra money would be going. That extra money would be going towards very noble and important ambitions, included in the 10-Year Plan, such as improving access to primary care in poor areas.'