ABPI responds to NICE & NHS England consultation on evaluating and funding new medicines

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) has responded to NHS England and NICE’s proposed £100,000 quality-adjusted life year (QALY) threshold for medicines.

The proposition is said to potentially stop the flow of new medicines reaching patients with rare and complex diseases.

ABPI believes that the proposals in their current form will have a negative impact on patient care for patients with rare diseases. APBI also expects the proposals to create further delays in accessing medicines for a large number of NHS patients.

Speaking about the consultation proposals, Mike Thompson, chief executive at the ABPI, said: “The ABPI agrees with the NHS England’s objective of developing a workable solution for managing the introduction of new medicines which are likely to create significantly high costs to the NHS.”

“However, given that all new drugs approved by Nice have already gone through a process to ensure they are cost-effective and clinically beneficial, the proposal to impose a £20million budget cap on these medicines is both heavy-handed and unrealistic and will mean more patients face delays in accessing appropriate NHS care. Better long term planning by the health service would ensure that major breakthroughs are managed into the NHS in an appropriate and affordable way and with less disruption.”

“We support the plan to fast-track medicines with an estimated budget impact of less than £10,000 per quality year of life which see patients benefitting from these innovations much faster.”

“While the ABPI supports a rigorous assessment of value for money of all new drugs we have serious concerns that implementing an arbitrary £100k cost per QALY for treatments for the rarest diseases – often affecting just a handful of people. We believe that this will have a detrimental impact on the development of new products for those who desperately need them and that this this proposal should be paused while a better solution is identified.”