NICE spends more on "spin" than approvals

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, excluding Scotland, and is already the subject of sharp criticism for denying access to drugs for many cancer and other patients (Marketletters passim), is now accused of spending more money on "spin" than it does on the evaluation new medicines.

According to figures unearthed by the opposition Conservative Party from the NICE's 2007/8 annual report, the agency spends 10% of its budget on new drug evaluation, but 13%, or 4.5 million ($7.9 million), on communications, suggesting that it was "wasting money on spin doctors." Shadow health spokesman Mark Simmonds told the Daily Telegraph newspaper that patients still waiting to be allowed new medicines "will rightly be asking why Labour [the governing party] insists on spending more on spin than on speeding up people's access to life-saving drugs."

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