Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to assess the impact of NICE’s severity modifier on people with secondary breast cancer.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is responsible for developing the methods and processes that it uses in its evaluations independently and in consultation with stakeholders. The severity modifier is based on evidence of societal preferences and was introduced in 2022, as part of a comprehensive review of the NICE’s methods and processes, following extensive public and stakeholder engagement.

The NICE carried out a review of the severity modifier in 2024 and found that it is operating as intended. Since its introduction, the severity modifier has resulted in a higher approval rate for cancer medicines compared to the NICE’s previous methods, and has also allowed greater weight to be applied to non-cancer medicines that address a broader range of severe diseases, enabling the NICE to recommend medicines for conditions such as cystic fibrosis and hepatitis D.

The NICE has commissioned research to better understand societal preferences that will inform future method reviews, but there is no prospect of any change until it concludes, and any future changes would need to be consistent with the principle of cost neutrality.