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Dozens of MPs Oppose Health Secretary's New NHS Drug Payment Powers
Dozens of MPs have expressed opposition to a health secretary's decision to gain authority over NHS drug pricing. The move involves overriding an institute's judgments on cost-effectiveness amid concerns about legality and potential benefits to pharmaceutical companies. Critics include members from various political parties and a former health secretary.
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Dozens of MPs are opposing a health secretary's decision to grant himself power to dictate what the NHS pays for drugs, amid concerns that the move may be illegal. Thirty-one MPs have signed a House of Commons motion expressing disapproval of the health secretary being given the power to override the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence's (Nice) judgment on how much the NHS should spend on individual medicines.
They expressed fear that the change undermines the role Nice has played since 1999 as the arbiter of which medicines provide value for money for the NHS in England and Wales.
Background on the Policy Change Nice is viewed internationally as a model for protecting against excessive drug prices charged by companies. MPs from various parties, including Labour, Green, Liberal Democrat, Independent, Scottish Nationalist, and Plaid Cymru, have backed a motion tabled by a Labour MP to show disagreement with the statutory instrument implementing the policy.
A statutory instrument recently gave the health secretary the power to direct Nice on the applicable cost-effectiveness threshold for health technologies under appraisal, as part of a government drug-pricing deal with the U.S. administration. A Labour MP stated that one purpose of establishing Nice was to insulate the NHS from pharmaceutical industry lobbying, and that the changes undermine Nice's independence, potentially giving U.S. pharmaceutical companies influence over drug policies.
A Liberal Democrat health spokesperson said the health secretary received this power because the prime minister had conceded to pressure from the U.S. administration. Ministers have defended the deal as a way to help British drug exports to the U.S. avoid tariffs and provide patients access to potentially life-extending drugs that might otherwise be unavailable.
