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NICE ACD-draft appraisal nilotinib/dasatinib/imatinib in first line
Interesting to see another NICE TA being reported (for Ranibizumab for the treatment of diabetic macular oedema) where it would appear at a quick glance that the guidance is not to recommend use for this application, with an indication that a patient access scheme will be necessary to get the drug into use. It is already recommended for treating wet age-related macular degeneration.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15939072
TA is http://guidance.nice.org.uk/TA237. I hope there is a typo on this page - it says NICE will consult on reviewing this guidance in Jauray 2100 - that is in 88 years time! They clearly seem to think they will still be in existence by then - I'm not so sure.
Hi Alistair, I agree that this is a NICE trend (negative guidance) as their new drug for malignant melanoma had a negative a few weeks ago. PAS are obviously the way in for pharma to sell their products to the NHS but...... I know for a fact that PA Schemes are not popular with commissioning pharmacists, as well as others who are required to find savings of £20 billion over the next 4 years (which roughly translates as 4-5% of the total NHS budget in each of those years) and when you add on inflation and the increasing demand from the general population, we will see deeper cuts in services and a slew of negative FADs.
Those I have talked to about this would prefer real discounts on price rather than a PAS which apparently have high administration costs and increase the workload to the point that there are no savings to the NHS at all.
Of course, forcing pharma to offer a PAS (rather than a discount) will be flagged up as a victory for NICE and therefore the DoH. I am sure they will make much of this, but it will not do anything towards saving the NHS we know and will sorely miss when, thanks to Andrew Lansley, it is gone.
We live in a time which has seen the rise and rise of the professional 'Health Economist' who increasingly are used as 'guns for hire'- i.e delivering unfathomable technology assessment models that are then used to 'prove' the lack of cost effectiveness of the therapies coming down the line from pharma.
Best... Sandy