ABPI 1, NICE 0: industry shifts pricing influence away from UK HTA body
This article was originally published in Scrip
The UK pharma industry association, the ABPI, has won a victory over NICE, the health technology appraisal institute for England and Wales, in the ongoing negotiations over value-based pricing. Currently, NICE sets the cost-effectiveness thresholds that influence UK drug pricing and the role of NICE itself was outside the ABPI’s sphere of influence. But the ABPI's chief executive Stephen Whitehead told Scrip that those thresholds are now part of the negotiations rather than being outside them.
"We never had sway over [thresholds and the role of NICE] in previous negotiations, but we can influence them now through these discussions," he said. Mr Whitehead described the developments as a "welcome development." "Negotiations are ongoing, there is the possibility of a new pricing scheme on top of us, and now we are going to have more weight in those discussions," he said.
Currently, the ABPI and England's Department of Health and the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry are talking about elements of value-based pricing in order to set out the details of a pricing plan that will replace the current Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme.
The industry association has been keen for NICE to reform its use of off-label and generic comparators (not use them, in other words) and has called for more transparency, especially in the appeals process. These have been topics of discussion with NICE over the past few months as the institute prepares to become a statutory body which, Mr Whitehead says, will make it more influential.
The ABPI is also critical of the institute's QALY-based methods and welcomed a recent report funded by the European Commission damming the use of the QALY. "This research shows why NICE so often delivers conclusions that are out of step with other bodies and can undermine clinical work in the UK and most importantly deny UK patients in need, access to new and proven treatments. This is clearly a flawed approach that can produce damaging decisions. We are working closely and urgently with NICE to look at these problems to ensure guidance that is issued truly values patient-centric innovation," it said in a statement.
Stephen Whitehead said that he hoped that the new pricing arrangements would encompass a wider societal value than the current QALY-based approach, a direction that would certainly be supported by many patient groups.
According to Mr Whitehead, there will be no delay to the timetable for delivering the new arrangements. Earlier this month the UK Parliament’s Health Select Committee which monitors England's Department of Health, said the lack or progress on the talks was unacceptable and called for clarity by the end of March (scripintelligence.com, 17 January 2013).