The UK's HTA process is changing, what does this mean for pharma?

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence's (NICE) consultation on the proposed changes to its methods and processes of health technology assessment closed on October 13. Here Meindert Boysen, deputy chief executive and director of the Centre for Health Technology Evaluation at NICE, provides an Expert View on the proposed fresh approach to health technology assessment and how this will allow continued fair and fast access to medicines in the National Health Service (NHS).

Our vision at NICE is to be at the forefront of delivering access for patients in the NHS to valuable, evidence-based innovative medicines. As pharma continues to develop ever more advanced medicines, we must work in partnership with the system to realize the benefits of those innovations for both patients and the NHS. From NICE's side, we achieve this through our independent, world-leading assessments, while identifying, anticipating and responding to technical and societal change to remain at the cutting edge - now and in the future.

The global pandemic emphasized why our health and care systems need to be able to respond to situations that constantly evolve, requiring solutions that are speedy, flexible and agile. As technology rapidly advances, we must continue to improve health and wellbeing by putting science and evidence at the heart of our decisions while keeping abreast of the challenges of an ever-changing world.