​Welcoming the ruling that NICE must provide open access to the calculations which are at the heart of its determination on a medicine’s cost-effectiveness, the ABPI said it would help ensure the right medicines reach the right patients.

Companies and other stakeholders will in future be able to use the same system to judge whether, for example, treating different groups of patients with a particular medicine might result in it being found more cost-effective.

“This judgement provides further momentum behind the drive to make NICE processes more transparent,” said Dr Richard Barker, Director General of the ABPI. “We look forward to working with NICE to make this greater transparency work for the benefit of patients.”