Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the review of the methods for the NICE Technology Appraisal Programme referred to in the 2019 voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing and access will include support for earlier patient access to innovative medicines.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is in the process of scoping the review of the methods for technology appraisal and highly specialised technologies evaluations. Scoping will involve patient organisations and other relevant stakeholders, including industry. The Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access sets out the Department’s expectation that that any future changes to NICE methods and processes would support faster adoption of the most clinically and cost effective medicines. Additional detail and more information will be made available on the NICE website in due course.

The 2019 Voluntary Scheme also states that NICE will adopt the principle of appraisal timelines for non-oncology treatments matching the faster timescales for oncology treatments, subject to the evidence base for the product being sufficiently developed to enable a NICE appraisal with the same level of rigour and certainty as would be expected currently.