The NICE Board yesterday considered proposals on Value Based Assessment (VBA) following a three month consultation responded to by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI).

Commenting on the outcome of the Board discussions, Paul Catchpole, Value and Access Director at the ABPI, said:

“The outcome of the Board discussions show that NICE has listened and responded to concerns raised by the pharmaceutical industry and other stakeholders. In our response to the consultation we called for an appraisal process that was fit-for-purpose and responsive to the new medicines that are being developed by the pharmaceutical industry, and NICE has recognised this by acknowledging that the kind of technologies it will be asked to appraise and the model of pharmaceutical R&D are changing. NICE recommended that further consideration of burden of illness and wider societal benefits is taken forward in the context of the broader consideration of the way in which new treatments are developed, evaluated and supported for adoption in the NHS. The ABPI agrees with this position. We also clearly highlighted in our consultation response that the exclusion of the End of Life criteria was unacceptable to the pharmaceutical industry, and the agreed retention of this important criteria is undoubtedly the right decision for the moment to support for patients accessing medicines at the end of their life."

For more details, go to: http://www.abpi.org.uk/media-centre/newsreleases/2007/Pages/default.aspx