In its response to comments on proposals for changes to its current methodology for evaluating new drugs, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is positioning itself for a wider role in the way drugs are developed, evaluated and taken up in the NHS.

Following a consultation, the institute has decided to undertake further work before making changes to the way it appraises new medicines and other technologies for use by the NHS. It argues that any changes to NICE’s methods need to be made as part of a wider review of the innovation, evaluation and adoption of new treatments (including those for cancers) involving patients, people working in or with the NHS, the life sciences industries and health researchers.

Alongside any changes to its methods, NICE proposes:

• An office for innovation inside NICE to provide companies with a 'flight path' through the stages of the development, evaluation and adoption of their products into the NHS
• Agreement between NICE, NHS England and the Department of Health, on the NHS's willingness to pay for new treatments, which would take account of any special cases, such as ultra-orphan conditions and cancer
• More productive sharing of risk between companies and the NHS. The aim would be to progressively reflect the value of new treatments as our knowledge of what they can offer to patients increases (NHS England’s “commissioning through evaluation” process could be used to for this)

For more details, go to: https://www.nice.org.uk/News/Press-and-Media/nice-calls-for-a-new-approach-to-managing-the-entry-of-drugs-into-the-nhs