UK Parliament
Processes used by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in its assessment of new medicines and health technologies are “needlessly complex” and risk confidence in the UK’s life sciences sector, the House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee has warned.
In an open letter to health secretary, Wes Streeting, published on 19 November 2025, Dame Chi Onwurah, chair of the House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee and Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West, said: “What initially appear to be straightforward rules and procedures are complicated by the ability of NICE to apply exemptions, or to take other factors into consideration if instructed by the secretary of state.
“This makes it harder for Parliament to hold NICE to account, and for the wider public to understand the process through which medicines and technologies reach the NHS,” she added.
Earlier in 2025, UK pharmaceutical firms raised concerns over NICE assessments and the price that the NHS is prepared for medicines, with subsequent decisions made to pause or stop investment in UK production.
Then, on 28 October 2025, the House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee held evidence sessions with pharmaceutical companies, NICE representatives and government departments, including the Office for Life Sciences.
Onwurah’s letter said the evidence sessions made it “clear to us that the [life sciences] sector has lost confidence in the credibility of successive UK governments to deliver on their ambitions, even though it largely welcomed the Life Sciences Sector Plan”.
She said the main issue raised by all parts of the sector from pharmaceutical companies to diagnostics to biotechnology firms in the evidence sessions and from written submissions was that of “pricing, uptake and access for medicines and technologies”.
“Several companies criticised NICE, with many pharmaceutical companies asking for an adjustment in the health technology assessment to approve medicines for NHS use, and medtech companies arguing that the system is designed with pharmaceuticals in mind and calling for a shift so that the assessment considers wider societal and economic benefits,” she added.
Press reports have suggested that NICE is reconsidering payments thresholds as the US government threatens the pharmaceutical industry with higher tariffs — with some claiming that tariffs on the UK pharma industry could be kept at bay with an increase in the NICE threshold.
Onwurah’s letter expressed concern about the influence of US trade talks on the UK’s domestic life sciences and health policy.
“It was clear from our October session that US trade talks are taking precedence for ministers over their own goals for the UK life sciences sector,” she said.
“With the United States increasingly focused on onshoring medicine production and securing strategic advantage — prioritising national competitiveness over global health outcomes — we are concerned that other countries may follow this inward turn, reducing collaboration and slowing progress on access to medicines, vaccines, and other vital innovations worldwide.”
