February 19, 2015

is NICE approval of new drugs doing more harm than good?

Research at the University of York has estimated the effects of changes in NHS expenditure on the health of all NHS patients.* The researchers have asked whether the threshold NICE uses to judge whether the health benefits of a new drug are sufficient to justify the costs are correct. The findings, published in the Health Technology Assessment Journal, suggest that the NHS is currently paying too much for new drugs. The authors also revealed their estimates of the true costs of the Cancer Drugs Fund on other areas of health spending. The research, published in the Health Technology Assessment Journal, is funded by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) and Medical Research Council.

Speakers:

Prof. Karl Claxton, Professor of Health Economics, University of York

Ms Marta Soares, Senior Research Fellow and co-author, University of York

Dr Steve Martin, Research Fellow, co-author, University of York

*Methods for the estimation of the NICE cost effectiveness threshold. Claxton K, Martin S, Soares M, Rice N, Spackman E, Hinde S, Devlin N, Smith PC, Sculpher M. Health Technology Assessment Journal