30 November 2016 - The type of evidence NICE uses to make decisions is a hotly contested topic — and rightly so.

Are you all for randomised clinical trials or do you see a role for data that is collected day-to-day in clinical practices? You could be led to believe that you need to pick a side.

Reforms to the Cancer Drugs Fund have seen us highlight the role that real-world data can play in technology appraisals. Some critics say that this means NICE will now become overly reliant on this type of evidence which can be deemed as not impartial.

But there should be no concerns that NICE’s rigour will be dampened. Randomised clinical trials typically underpin the decisions we make at NICE about drug treatments. That will never change.

We can only recommend drugs that are licensed in this country, meaning that clinical trials will already have shown they are effective and any side effects are well-tolerated.

Read Blog by Dr Linda Landells, associate director at NICE