BMJ  2007;334:594-595 (24 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.39132.363356.80

Editorials

Transparency in health technology assessments

Should NICE have the right to refuse access to its modelling data?

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The running battle over which National Health Service patients with dementia should have access to the dementia drug donepezil (Aricept) is to progress to the courts. Last year, guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) restricted use of the drug to patients with moderate and severe Alzheimer's disease, thereby denying its use for 60% of patients with Alzheimer's disease who have mild dementia.¹

NICE's decision was based on modelling Aricept's clinical and cost effectiveness through a contract with Southampton University's Health Technology Centre. NICE makes its own internal work accessible to the drug industry so that its processes are open to critical appraisal. Furthermore, it requires industry to supply all its evidence in an "executable" form, so that differing assumptions can be modelled. However, NICE's appraisal guide clearly states that the contracted work of external academic assessment groups, such as the Southampton University's Health Technology Centre, . . . [Full text of this article]

Department of Health Sciences, University of York, York YO10 5DD

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This article has been cited by other articles:

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Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

.. not far enough

Jack Dowie
bmj.com, 26 Mar 2007 [Full text]

NICE's model construction and assumptions should be explicit

Tom Fahey
bmj.com, 4 Apr 2007 [Full text]

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