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The UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is undertaking a planned update of the way it takes decisions on the use of new drugs and treatments within the National Health Service.
The Guide to the methods of technology appraisal provides an overview of the principles and methods used by NICE – the independent body responsible for providing national guidance on promoting health and preventing and treating ill health – to assess health technologies (drugs and other treatments).
The guide is aimed at independent advisory committees that prepare NICE guidance, and organisations representing patient groups, health professionals and manufacturers that submit evidence and comment on draft recommendations. The document is to be used alongside the Guide to the technology appraisal process and the Guide to the single technology appraisal process, which describe the steps NICE goes through in developing guidance.
The review of the latest guide will take place between April and October 2007, and the resulting revised draft will be available for a three-month public consultation, set to start in November 2007. Until the updated guide is published, the current version will continue to be used for all ongoing appraisals.
NICE chief executive Andrew Dillon said: “As the global leader in evaluating the benefits of new drugs and treatments, we are committed to ensuring that our methodologies are up to date, clearly explained and offer stakeholders the opportunity to engage fully in the development of our guidance. This update will give our stakeholders the chance to tell us how they think our approach should evolve so that we can stay at the leading edge of this important work.”
