The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) has today submitted its response to NICE’s value based assessment (VBA) consultation.

Commenting on ABPI’s consultation response, Paul Catchpole, Value and Access Director at the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, ABPI, said:

“We are pleased to have the opportunity to submit a response to NICE’s VBA consultation, and we acknowledge the potential it brings to allow NICE to use a broader definition of value in order to reflect more fully the value that medicines bring to patients and society.

“Whilst the proposals set out in the consultation document provide a starting point, we are still far from the finish line. VBA is an opportunity for NICE to support the stated goals of improved adoption and diffusion of innovative medicines in the NHS, and ensure that NHS patients are amongst the first in the world to benefit from advances in medicine. If we are going to achieve more for patients, then a more radical reform of NICE methods and processes will be needed than is currently proposed in this consultation. We would like to see NICE approve more new innovative medicines in the context of the PPRS agreement to maximise benefits for patients and commissioners. A new mandate from government may be needed to achieve this. We do not want to see a situation where fewer new innovative medicines are being approved for NHS patients.

For more details, go to: http://www.abpi.org.uk/media-centre/newsreleases/2014/Pages/210614.aspx