Healthy Skepticism Library item: 11268

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Publication type: Journal Article

O'Dowd A.
Economist says NICE should approve fewer costly drugs
BMJ 2007 Jul 7; 335:(7609):11
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/335/7609/11-a

Abstract:

A leading economist has recommended that the body that determines which drugs can be prescribed by the NHS in England and Wales should change its threshold, so that fewer expensive drugs are approved.

MPs on the health select committee heard from health economists last week as part of their inquiry into various aspects of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), including why its decisions and evaluation process are increasingly being challenged.

Peter Smith, director of the Centre for Health Economics, at the University of York, told MPs that NICE’s current cost effectiveness threshold was between £20 000 and £30 000 (45 000; $60 000) per quality adjusted life year (QALY, a measure of the cost for each extra year lived by a patient treated with the drug in question).

Professor Smith compared the threshold used by NICE for approving drugs to the average cost of saving . . .