Recent reports that NICE was to be bypassed by drugs which were “innovative,” with funding from a new separate budget, sent me in search of the source report – the […]
James Raftery’s NICE blogs
James Raftery on the Kennedy report
” Appraising the value of innovation and other benefits: a short study for NICE, ” the report by Sir Ian Kennedy contains one of the best critiques of the new […]
James Raftery: The judicial review of NICE’s appraisal of drugs for secondary treatment of osteoporosis
The report of this judgment made me laugh out loud several times. Mr Justice Holman twice describes proceedings as “bizarre”. A key confidentiality agreement with Dr Kanis could not be […]
NICE and the influenza antivirals for healthy adults – No, again and again and again
NICE’s latest technology appraisal of the flu antiviral drugs (amantadine, oseltamivir and zanamivir), published in February 2009 marks the sixth time these drugs have been considered. The timelines are shown […]
James Raftery on NICE’s cost per QALY threshold: does the public have a view?
One approach to setting NICE’s cost per QALY threshold might be to survey the public. In 2003 NICE and the Department of Health did just that, with a study “assessing […]
James Raftery on a greater role for industry in NICE’s cost per QALY?
In December 2008 the Department of Health in England published the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme. It describes how the scheme will operate for at least five years from 2009. The previous scheme was […]
James Raftery: End of life drugs – what premium? Pt 2
Having recommended NHS use of sunitinib for renal cancer, the appraisal committee of the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) issued separate draft guidance for consultation, recommending against […]
James Raftery: End of life drugs—what premium? Pt 1
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), the UK drugs watchdog, is currently appraising the use of four drugs—bevacizumab, sorafenib, sunitinib, and temsirolimus—for the treatment of advanced or […]