NICE sets too high a QALY cost for NHS drugs, new research claims

The price the National Heath Service in England agrees to pay for new medicines is too high, causing more harm than good overall, according to a new analysis.

University of York researchers say the special cancer drugs fund is particularly poor value, diverting money from other patient services, the UK public broadcaster the BBC reported this morning. They argue the drugs advice body has set its price threshold too high. To do this the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) uses a measure called quality-adjusted life years (QALY).

At current limits, if a medicine costs more than £20,000 ($30,780) to £30,000 per QALY, it would not generally be recommended as cost-effective. But researchers at York say the level should be closer to £13,000 to provide the most benefit across the NHS.