NICE to issue faster drugs guidance for NHS
03 November 2005
NICE and the Department of Health have today announced that NICE is launching a new, rapid process for assessing drugs and other treatments to sit alongside its global standard process. The Single Technology Appraisal (STA) process will be used initially to produce faster guidance on life-saving drugs which have already been licensed and on new medicines close to when they first become available.
The new process will enable single new drugs, and existing drugs with new
indications to be rapidly assessed.
Under the new process NICE will issue faster guidance by:
• Asking for a single submission of evidence from the drug’s manufacturer.
• Carrying out an independent assessment of this evidence more quickly.
• Moving quickly to the final (appeal) stage of the process where the draft
recommendations are in line with the licence.
The first guidance developed using the new process will appear as early as June 2006. At the same time as starting work on the first group of drugs, the Institute will consult with organisations representing patients (including the Brain and Spine Foundation), healthcare professionals and the healthcare industries on the details of the new process.
Around fourteen drugs that have already been referred to NICE are among those suitable for the new process. Using it for them would result in guidance being published up to 6-15 months earlier than currently planned, with more than half being published at least 8 months earlier. Thirteen out of fourteen of this group are anti-cancer drugs.
