Thursday, November 3, 2005

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) welcomed today's announcement on changes to NICE's evaluation of medicines, in view of the need to ensure that all patients have the fastest possible access to modern, innovative medicines.

"However, it is vital that, once the new process is in place and guidance is produced earlier for the NHS, it is properly funded and implemented without delay by NHS trusts. It should also give encouragement and confidence to doctors to prescribe modern medicines for the benefit of patients," said Andrew Curl, Deputy Director General of the ABPI.

Nevertheless, there are sometimes limitations on what evidence is available for the evaluation of the clinical and cost effectiveness of a medicine at the time of launch. The ABPI is therefore keen to discuss details of the proposals' implementation with NICE to ensure the new process works well and achieves its objective of making innovative medicines available to patients as soon as possible after launch.