Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NICE plans to develop a new product for off-patent medicine reappraisals.

As the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) moves towards a whole life-cycle approach to producing guidance, it is considering whether its methods and processes for reviewing guidance on off-patent medicines need to change. NICE’s whole life-cycle approach will help the National Health Service keep guidance up to date with best practice, reflecting changes in evidence, costs, and clinical practice. It will support the ongoing review of what works best, identify where care can be improved, and will highlight where treatments should evolve over time. This means NICE will not assess a new medicine or treatment once and then move on, it will continue to review the evidence as it develops, so NHS care remains focused on what delivers the greatest benefit for patients.