The U.K. Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, says that he wants people to see the national health service as a neighborhood health service as he works towards reimagining the health system and bringing care into people's homes. Data, he said, will be at the heart of the transformation. So too will be the deployment of science and medical technologies.
The U.K. Medicines and Healthcare products Agency has become the third to approve Eli Lilly and Co.’s Kisunla (donanemab), but the drug’s spending watchdog has simultaneously ruled the Alzheimer’s disease treatment is not cost effective.
For once, the U.K.’s health technology assessment body, the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE), has no reservations about the cost effectiveness of a new drug and is recommending Eli Lilly and Co.’s obesity therapy, Mounjaro (tirzepatide), for use in the National Health Service (NHS).
The U.K. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence reported that mental health professionals experienced a dramatic increase in referrals for anxiety and depression over the past decade but noted that digital therapies might help manage the caseload, representing a significant opportunity for developers of these products.
The U.K.’s world-first subscription model for antimicrobials is to be expanded following a successful pilot scheme in which companies are being paid a fixed annual fee for their drugs, regardless of the volume dispensed.
The U.K. government said it will take action to tackle potential bias in the design and use of medical devices after an independent review found that there is extensive evidence of poorer performance of certain technologies, like pulse oximeters, in patients with darker skin tones.
Chief executives of U.K. medical research charities have issued a call for speedier uptake and more equitable access to new drugs that have received a cost-effectiveness seal of approval from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. In a joint report with the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, the heads of eight charities examined a number of cases where access has been limited and set out recommendations to address the challenges of equity, uptake and health inequalities.
Investment in life sciences in the U.K. in 2022 was 47% lower than in 2021, new figures from the government show, a decline the British pharma industry believes is down to the high clawback rates imposed on drug manufacturers deterring global investors.
First the stick and now the carrots. The pharma industry in the U.K. on March 1 published its proposal for a new pricing scheme, under which it is offering to pay a fixed rebate of 6.88% across all eligible drug sales, an offer it said will deliver more than £1 billion (US$1.2 billion) per annum back to the National Health Service.
