UK Value-Based Assessment: Will Scotland's Smc Approach It In The Same Way?

Abstract

In May 2010 the UK government set out its intentions to reform the current method of pricing branded medicines and introduced a new system of value-based pricing (VBP). This was to replace the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) which expired at the end of 2013. With discussion still ongoing, and the PPRS renewed up until end of 2018, it has been indicated that VBP will no longer relate to medicines’ pricing, but instead will be a reshaping of the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) model employed by the UK in its appraisal of new medicines, and renamed Value Based Assessment (VBA). As medicine assessment is devolved in the UK, performed by NICE in England and the SMC in Scotland, we seek to understand whether the SMC will adopt the same approach to VBA as NICE The research was conducted through in-depth secondary research and interviews with stakeholders, including payers and KOLs, in UK Both NICE and the SMC have indicated they will continue to use QALY as a measurement of clinical and cost effectiveness while also incorporating issues such as burden of illness and wider societal impact in their assessment. However, their approach to conducting such assessments may differ with the SMC suggesting using a new system of patient and clinician engagement (PACE), currently in use for the appraisal of medicines for end of life or rare conditions (orphans), as a wider process to determine Scotland’s requirement for a value based approach to assess all new medicines Manufacturers would be encouraged to closely follow the outcomes from the new PACE system, incorporated into the SMC assessment for end of life and orphan therapies, to ensure readiness for the introduction of VBA in Scotland.