The Kennedy study
Why was the Kennedy study commissioned?
In January 2009, NICE commissioned Professor Sir Ian Kennedy to carry out a short study of valuing innovation, in response to the views expressed by Sir David Cooksey in his Review and Refresh of Bioscience 2015 report.
The Review and Refresh of Bioscience 2015 report
The report:
- built on the findings of the original Biosciences 2015 report
- tracked progress against the original recommendations
- made new recommendations in the light of the current environment for bioscience companies.
Sir David expressed his concern that:
“Currently, the perceived problem for UK industry is that NICE appraisals do not operate in a way that is supportive of innovation, or uptake and access to medicines and therefore dissuade companies from investing in the UK.”
Sir David called for:
- an independent inquiry to assess NICE's long term impact on cost, access to, and uptake of, medicines in the UK.
- an independent review of the way in which NICE values medicines so that the current economic evaluation is complemented by clinician, patient and research inputs on the value of innovation from their perspectives.
What happened next?
The Government rejected calls for an independent inquiry into NICE. Instead, it highlighted the progress that has been made since the creation of NICE in 1999, the many thousands of patients who have benefited from its guidance and the fact that NICE's work has been commended by the World Health Organization.
The Government's response also pointed out that NICE has evolved since its creation with the introduction of the “fast track” Single Technology Assessment (STA) appraisal process, more explicit flexibility in appraising innovative drugs for less common end-of-life conditions and other important developments.
But both NICE and the Government recognised the importance of promoting innovation in the NHS and agreed with Sir David that this specific issue should be considered further.
What the Kennedy study addressed and NICE's response
This page was last updated: 29 June 2010