National Health Service Chief Warns Over National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) Drug Blacklists

NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson has told local health leaders that NHS contracts are to be changed to ensure that local Service drug formularies do not block treatments which are recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). "Formularies have an important role in underpinning safe and effective use of medicines. However, they should not duplicate NICE assessments or challenge an appraisal recommendation. Once on formularies, there should be no further barriers to the use or prescription of technologies or medicines," Sir David writes, in a Dear Colleague letter sent to the chief executives of Strategic Health Authority (SHA) and Primary Care Trust (PCT) clusters and clinical commissioning group (CCG) leaders.