ICR: NICE Reforms Fall Short of Increasing Access to Innovative Cancer Treatments

February 8, 2022

The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), London, is not satisfied with The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) proposed reforms on approval for new treatments for rare diseases. The reforms are incremental and prevent people with rare diseases like childhood cancer from accessing novel therapeutics.

According to Fleur Jeffries of PM Live, “However, the ICR has welcomed certain changes proposed by NICE, including its recommendation that review panels should accept more uncertainty in data when considering new drugs. The ICR is asking for more flexibility and consideration in areas including: a greater recognition of the barriers for rare disease, the prioritising of innovative medicines, the use of surrogate measures of survival and investigations into the risks of removing the end of life criteria for a disease severity modifier.”