"NICE blight" means UK patients could miss out on new drugs"

Adding to comments on the recent criticism of the UK's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), which gives guidance on the use of medicines in England and Wales (Marketletter January 21), Subhanu Saxena, chief executive of Novartis UK, said that long delays for new compounds to gain approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the regulator, and from the NICE, "are making Britain uncompetitive for drug companies."

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph newspaper, he said "it is becoming expensive to do trials in the UK and hard to launch new drugs," as a results of which "there is a real possibility that drug companies will stop launching drugs in Britain."

According to Mr Saxena, what has become known as "NICE blight," has delayed two of the firm's recent launches in the UK. However, Novartis' head of pharmaceuticals in Europe, Eric Cornut, told the Telegraph that, despite these setbacks, the firm will continue to work with the NICE to introduce its products in Britain.