Medicines licensing

Everything you need to know about NICE’s decisions on ‘game-changing’ Alzheimer’s drugs

In August and October 2024, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence issued a decision not to recommend two new drugs for Alzheimer’s disease that experts had previously welcomed for their disease-modifying effects. We explain the reasons behind their decisions.…

Martin Sawer: ‘NHS hospitals owe wholesalers millions of pounds in overdue invoices’

Here, Martin Sawer, executive director of the Healthcare Distribution Association, explains how wholesalers are part of the ‘critical infrastructure’ of UK healthcare, but the industry faces several challenges.…

Pregabalin prescribing increases by almost 25% since restrictions imposed

Exclusive: Almost 670,000 patients in England were prescribed pregabalin when it was first reclassified in 2018/2019, compared with more than 820,000 patients in 2023/2024.…

MHRA approvals miss targets by more than 100 days, data show

In January 2024, it took an average of 333 days for a regulatory decision to be made for a medicine under the national route for marketing authorisations, versus a statutory timescale of 210 days.…

Non-hormonal treatment for menopause vasomotor symptoms approved for use in the UK

Fezolinetant is an alternative to hormone replacement therapy for people experiencing vasomotor symptoms of menopause.…

Would UK approval of lecanemab be a game changer for people with Alzheimer’s disease?

Experts are divided over whether lecanemab is a cost-effective intervention for Alzheimer’s disease, raising concerns that the NHS is not ready for it.…

PJ view: Britain must chart a new path on medicines access

The UK is in danger of lagging behind other countries when it comes to access to new medicines — the government must act now to uphold improvements in patient care.…

‘A global outlier’: how drug firms are fighting back against UK tax increases

With the UK tax on net sales of branded medicines quadrupling over the past three years, medicine manufacturers warn it will affect access to new drugs and are threatening to withdraw — but are these empty threats?…

Just out of reach: why the UK must rethink its barriers to novel medicines

The early access to medicines scheme has been running for six years, but has it had the desired impact of ensuring the sickest patients are spared the wait for the most promising treatments, or is it failing to live up to expectations?…

Medication dosing could be ‘poisoning’ older people because of age exclusion in clinical trials

Older patients are often being ‘poisoned’ because licensed doses of drugs are only tested in younger, healthy populations, witnesses have told a House of Lords Science and Technology Committee inquiry.…