A recent study on the population-health impact of new drugs demonstrates a disconnected economist-driven approach to the benefits that such drugs provide, experts have said.
In England, NICE determines which medicines offer value for money for the NHS. NICE’s cost-effectiveness threshold, which allows higher spending on new drugs, set on the majority of assessed drugs between £20,000 and £30,000 per additional year of health, compared to the typical NHS expenditure for similar health outcomes – £15,000. The study suggested that this allows companies to charge higher prices than what the NHS pays in order to deliver similar health benefits using existing treatments and services.
The study analysed the impact of new drug spending in England from 2000 to 2020. The study used the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of these new drugs, a measure of the additional cost required to achieve an additional ‘unit’ of health outcome with a drug, and the data on health benefits, recorded solely in terms of quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs). The authors estimated the number of patients receiving new drugs using sales data. The study finally compared the population-level health impact of these new
