Campaigners threaten legal action over UK-US deal on prices NHS pays for drugs | National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
Campaigners opposed to the UK’s controversial drug pricing deal with Donald Trump are threatening the government with legal action unless it abandons a key part of the plan.
They say a change to the way drug treatments are approved by the NHS, which could lead to it paying even higher prices, amounts to an “unlawful power grab”.
The plan could allow the Health Secretary to ignore the independent judgment of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) on how much the NHS should pay for certain medicines.
Campaign groups Global Justice Now and Just Treatment have warned the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) that they may seek a judicial review at the High Court over the legality of such a decision.
They told the department they would continue to seek a judicial review unless it repeals the statutory instrument – secondary legislation – which came into force last month, giving ministers the power to overturn Nice. The institute is respected worldwide for its independence from ministerial control.
The loss of Nice’s long-standing independence as the body that decides which medicines the NHS in England and Wales should buy is part of the government’s medicines deal with the Trump administration, announced last December.
Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now, said: “This is a government playing with the lives of NHS patients in a geopolitical game with Donald Trump.
“They risk sabotaging our carefully crafted mechanism to contain the overly inflated prices of big pharmaceutical companies, and they have done so without even a debate in Parliament.”
Lawyers Leigh Day sent the DHSC a nine-page “pre-claim letter” on behalf of the group and Just Treatment. Former Conservative health secretary Andrew Lansley said the regulatory text was illegal because it contradicted the Health and Social Care Act 2012.
MPs from several parties, including Labor, have expressed concerns about the secrecy surrounding the deal and the government’s refusal to publish its assessment of the impact on the long-term cost of the decade-long deal with the White House, provide any detail in responses to parliamentary questions or allow a debate on it in the House of Commons.
Diarmaid McDonald, director of Just Treatment, said: “They have refused to publish their own assessments of the damage the deal would cause to the NHS and they have used a parliamentary process designed to make it extremely difficult for MPs to properly scrutinize what they are doing.
“But we believe the process they followed is unlawful and we are prepared to take them to court to defend NHS patients and our democracy.”
The Guardian reported last month that dozens of MPs from various parties had expressed concern over the potential end of Nice’s independence – and that Lansley believed the government was breaking the law.
Ministers said the deal will allow more NHS patients to access innovative medicines. This will ensure UK medicine exports to the US remain duty free for three years.
The DHSC spokesperson denied that this change nullifies Nice’s independence.
“Nice’s independence will always be protected. It will continue to set direction and make recommendations completely free of political interference, balancing clinical effectiveness and ensuring that taxpayers get a good deal,” they said.
“A revolution is underway in medical science, and we are determined to ensure it benefits patients, by facilitating the introduction of innovative medicines into the NHS.
“This will mean thousands of patients will have access to life-changing new treatments, including the recent approval of a brain cancer drug for patients as young as 12 years old. »
A DHSC source added: “The Nice legal framework states that ministers are not able to direct Nice on the substance of its recommendations.
“Nice remains responsible for independently deciding whether a medicine can be recommended as a clinically and cost-effective use of NHS resources.”
