NICE caves to public pressure, allowing terminal patients costly life-extending drugs

The UK's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), which advises on what medical care should be provided under the National  Health Service, except in Scotland, has made a further concession to  patients demanding a greater focus on their quality of life than on  cost.

From now on, the NICE will be able to exceed its threshold on  cost-effectiveness for drugs that may extend the life of patients who  are expected to survive for less than two years.

Previously, if a drug cost more than L30,000 ($43,685) for each  quality-of-life-adjusted year the patient would survive, the Institute  would refuse to recommend it for NHS use. In future, however, the NICE  will be able to offer positive opinions for drugs that exceed this  limit, so long as the product is the only one available that can extend  the life of terminal patients by over three months.