ABPI largely in favor of NICE proposals on drug evaluation

As the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) looks set to approve changes to the way it evaluates new medicines and health technologies, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) believes that – taken in their entirety - the changes will move the needle in the right direction for NHS patients.

Value and access policy director at the ABPI, Paul Catchpole, said: “The changes set to be approved by the NICE Board tomorrow will help support better access to life-changing medicines, today and in the future, while helping to deliver the UK government’s Life Sciences Vision. These long-awaited changes mean that NICE’s methods and processes will better reflect the incredible advances in medicines discovery.

"We share NICE’s ambition for fairness and equity of access to the latest medicines, including those for rare diseases. Rapid implementation will be vital so that patients can benefit as soon as possible. We look forward to continued collaboration on further methods and process improvements which can make the UK even better for patients and a go to destination for life sciences companies to discover, develop and launch new medicines."