Pharmaceutical subsidisation and judicial review of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence

Abstract

This paper outlines the nature and rules of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) and, in the context of pharmaceuticals, assesses whether NICE is subject to judicial review, whether its members can be cross-examined, whether fresh evidence can be adduced at review hearings, the courts' likely approach to challenges to NICE's exercise of discretion on matters of substance and some aspects of the consultation obligations to which NICE is subject.