New report suggests NHS is paying too much for drugs

A new independent study has suggested that National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) policies may be resulting in the NHS paying too much for new drugs.

Research by health economists at the University of York has suggested that NICE's threshold for gauging the cost-effectiveness of new drugs is too high. Currently, this is set at 30,000 pounds per quality-adjusted life year (QALY).

The approval of a new drug that costs the NHS an additional 10 million pounds each year would offer benefits of 333 QALYs at the current NICE threshold, but also leads to the loss of 773 QALYs for other NHS patients due to a lack of resources elsewhere.

This is because the amount the NHS can afford to pay for the benefits that new drugs offer is lower than previously thought, according to the report.

Co-author Professor Karl Claxton said: "The increasing pressure to approve new drugs more quickly at prices that are too high will only increase the harm done to NHS patients overall."