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Anne Li                                                                                                March 18th, 2017

Plans to create an additional affordability test for medicines available on the NHS have been labelled ‘unacceptable’ by charities and politicians. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recently consulted on plans to delay the introduction of new drugs that cost NHS England more than £20 million a year. The restrictions are likely to be enforced next month, a NICE announcement has revealed. Sarah Woolnough, Cancer Research UK’s executive director of policy and information, said the move was unacceptable, and that cancer patients could die as a result of the change. “If NICE thinks a cancer treatment is clinically effective and represents value for money, then patients should receive it without delay,” she added. NICE bases its approval on a measure which looks at years of good quality of life (link is external) added by a drug. It usually approves drugs which cost less than £30,000 for each additional year of quality life.

See original article at: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-us/cancer-news/news-report/2017-03-15-unacceptable-plans-revealed-by-nice-that-could-delay-availability-of-drugs-on-the-nhs-in-england