Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on health technology assessment methods for evaluating novel therapies for Alzheimer's disease.

Department officials have regular discussions with the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) about a range of topics, including its health technology assessment methods.

The NICE develops its guidance independently on the basis of an assessment of the available evidence, in line with its published health technology evaluation manual. The NICE keeps its methods and processes under review to ensure that they are appropriate to emerging new treatments and aligned with best practice.

The NICE has established a Health Technology Assessment Innovation Laboratory (HTA Lab) that aims to address the challenges that may arise in the assessment of innovative health technologies.

The NICE’s HTA Lab carried out a project to identify the key issues that are likely to emerge during the evaluation of the disease modifying treatments for dementia, including those licensed for Alzheimer’s disease. The project concluded that the NICE’s current approach and methods are appropriate for evaluating these treatments. The report is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/about/what-we-do/our-research-work/hta-lab-projects#dmdts