NICE is making progress in improving access to new cancer treatments but it needs to take proper account of true innovation and be more flexible on price for genuine game-changers.

That is the view of Paul Workman, one of the world’s leading oncology experts and interim chief executive of the Institute of Cancer Research in London, who has laid out a series of suggestions for the cost watchdog. He was concerned about NICE’s suggested package of reforms, “an extremely complicated formula for assessing drugs, attempting to take into account a host of different factors – from the burden of an illness on an individual to its broader impact on society”.

Prof Workman was therefore delighted to see that NICE has now performed “an abrupt about-turn”, having announced in September that it no longer plans to proceed with the changes it had proposed. Chief executive Sir Andrew Dillon said last month that “following an extensive consultation, it’s clear that just changing NICE’s methods will not overcome concerns about how the NHS accesses new treatments”.

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