NHS must find ways to speed access to new drugs and technologies

New drugs, diagnostic tools, and healthcare technologies could be adopted more quickly if the NHS took a fresh approach, according to the final report of the Accelerated Access Review.1

Streamlining the drug approval process could cut four years off the time needed to bring new medicines to the clinic, the review said. This would be made up by saving 12-18 months in the drug approval process; by cutting delays in approval by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which typically takes up to two years; and in NHS commissioning and adoption, which usually takes another two years.

“We need to act now to make the most of a tidal wave of new drugs and technologies that are being developed,” …