NICE poised to raise cost-per-QALY threshold?
But stemming pharma’s U.K. investment outflows may also require changes to VPAG
After a series of decisions by pharmaceutical companies to pause or cancel investments in the U.K., the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee has moved to quickly assess the competitiveness of the country’s life sciences sector, including the impact of NHS pricing, the NICE assessment process, and shifting U.S. policy. One lever the U.K. government could pull to restore investment confidence is adjusting NICE’s standard cost-per-QALY threshold.
That would mark a shift from a 25-year policy of holding medicines to the same economic value threshold. Yet even if the government raises the QALY limit, it’s unlikely to be enough to lure pharma back unless paired with changes to the Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access (VPAG), which caps NHS spending on prescription medicines at pre-specified levels...