The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is to announce proposals on Thursday that could see the health service increase the amount it spends on branded pharmaceutical drugs.

The document, known as a methods guide, will outline changes to the way in which NICE measures innovative medicines’ cost effectiveness, and is to be put to consultation for three months, a spokesman said.

Under the guidelines the maximum cost of a drug per quality adjusted life year that NICE considers a good use of NHS resources could be raised in some cases to take account of the wider societal impacts of an illness, HSJ understands.

NICE currently considers a drug to be a good use of health service resources if it costs between £20,000 - £30,000 per quality adjusted life year, an internationally recognised way of measuring a drug’s price against its potential to extend or improve the quality of life.

Under the proposals this threshold could be raised in some circumstances to between £20,000 and £50,000 per QALY.

A source familiar with the contents of the document said that NICE would look at the wider societal impact of a medicine, following from terms of reference given by the Department of Health.

“NICE want to formalise the approach so that the range is between £20,000 and £50,000,” the source said. “Normally it would be around or above £20,000 per QALY.

“Under the new proposals that could rise to £50,000 for a drug that is clinically effective.”

HSJ understands that other factors that NICE will consult on are initiatives to take into account how a drug can affect a disease’s impact on the loss of a person’s capacity to engage with society.

Others will include the innovative nature of a drug and how it will help meet the non-health objectives of the NHS, for example whether the drug would help the NHS save money elsewhere.

The guidelines are to be published a month later than planned.

Explaining the delay in publishing the consultation document, originally due out in February, a NICE spokesman said: “Given the high level of public interest in our proposals for updating our methods guides to take account of wider societal impact, we have spent time ensuring the consultation document is clear and transparent.

“The consultation period will last three months and end in the summer. We hope to implement the changes to the Methods Guides for use by our appraisal committees in the late summer.”

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