The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), which advises the NHS in England on the use of medical treatments, has developed a more rapid process for assessment that will be used initially for lifesaving medicines, including several cancer drugs.

The new “single technology appraisal” process will enable NICE to develop guidance on drugs selected for rapid assessment within eight weeks—much more quickly than the current average of 18 months. It will initially be applied to lifesaving drugs that have already been licensed and to new lifesaving medicines close to the time that they first become available.

In the faster appraisal …