NICE is too generous in approving drugs, analysis says

The method used by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to assess the value of new drugs in England has done more harm than good, concludes an analysis by the Centre for Health Economics at the University of York.1 And the Cancer Drugs Fund has done even greater harm, it found, saying that the money spent by the fund on expensive cancer drugs would have done five times as much good if spent elsewhere in the NHS.

Karl Claxton, lead author of the analysis, told a briefing at the Science Media Centre in London that NHS outcomes would be better if it refused to fund any drug that cost more than £13 000 (€17 500; $20 000) per quality adjusted life year …