To ask the Minister of Health whether Ritlecitinib will be made available in Northern Ireland for the treatment of severe alopecia areata in people aged 12 and over, given it is available to patients in England, Scotland and Wales.

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.

Ritlecitinib (Litfulo®) for the treatment of severe alopecia areata in people 12 years and over, was endorsed by my Department in April 2024 and is available to eligible patients in Northern Ireland in line with the current NICE guidelines (TA958), where infrastructure is in place and the service has capacity.