Why raising NHS spending on new drugs by 25% is the wrong decision – health economist’s view

Why raising NHS spending on new drugs by 25% is the wrong decision – health economist’s view

A quiet policy change on NHS drug pricing could have big consequences for patients and prevention. Stephen Barnes/ShutterstockFor nearly three decades, decisions about which medicines the NHS pays for have not been made by ministers, but by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, known as Nice. Its job has been powerful: to act as a check on the pharmaceutical industry by demanding evidence that new drugs are clinically effective …