Leading academic calls for shake-up in NICE procedures

The UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has been attacked for the lack of transparency in the way it makes its decisions and how it informs the drug industry of the process.

Ian Kennedy, a leading medicolegal lawyer and former chairman of the Healthcare Commission, has outlined the need for a major shake-up in the way NICE carries out—and communicates—its role. His 52 page report was due to go to NICE’s council meeting on Wednesday 22 July.

His gives 25 recommendations to try to increase understanding of the organisation’s role, improve the way it handles innovations (from drugs and devices to psychological therapies), and how best to build confidence in its processes among the public and the pharmaceutical industry.

Among his proposals is the need for better communication from NICE about its processes. He also suggests that, although NICE should continue to base its decisions on approaches such as the incremental cost …