The NAO report, which is scheduled for spring 2027, will examine the deal's expected costs and benefits, how it was reached and how it will be monitored, evaluated and reported.

Health and Social Care Committee chair Layla Moran, who called for the investigation in a letter to the NAO in September, said: ‘We welcome the NAO's decision to investigate the UK-US pharma deal. The Health and Social Care Committee, alongside five other select committees, called on the NAO to examine this agreement out of concern for its potentially enormous, long-lasting financial implications for the NHS and patients. We did so after repeated attempts to obtain information from the department and ministers were rebuffed. This lack of transparency and candour has been a source of frustration. 

‘We also welcome the NAO's decision to establish what information and forecasts are available on the costs arising from the agreement, and its intention to examine how the agreement was developed and what processes were followed. The NAO's investigation should help provide Parliament and the public with greater transparency and assurance in an area where significant questions remain unanswered.'