New medicines to be prioritized in Europe over Britain, big pharma warns

In a new snapshot survey of leading pharmaceutical businesses in the UK, companies have said that changes to the way the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and NHS England (NHSE) assess new medicines coming in to effect today (April 1, 2017), will decrease access to the latest treatments, with new medicines for cancer set to be impacted the most.

New measures are being implemented despite widespread condemnation from patient groups, research charities and the medicines cost-effectiveness watchdog NICE’s founding clinical and public Health Director.

The view that European Union launch of new medicines will be prioritized over the UK is particularly stark, not just considering existing Brexit uncertainty, but also bearing in mind of the fact that we already have a situation in the UK that means just 17 NHS patients would typically be on the NICE-recommended medicines in the first year, compared to 100 patients in France, Spain and Germany. We also know it takes almost half as longer in England to make a decision on patient access to rare disease medicines than it does in Italy and France, with patients getting immediate access in Germany.