NICE and MRC to research watchdog’s methodology
pharmafile | June 5, 2009 | News story | | NICE
Funding worth £2 million has been made available for research into how NICE can better do its job.
The drug regulator and the Medical Research Council (MRC) called this week for applicants to come up with "policy-relevant research" to improve NICE's methodology.
The move follows a House of Commons Health Select Committee Report last year which highlighted the need for research to back up NICE's decisions.
Chief among the issues to be tackled is re-evaluating the EQ-5D tariff, the metric by which health-related quality of life is assessed.
The two bodies have also identified a need to build new measures into quality-adjusted life years (QALY) calculations to identify benefits or disadvantages which are currently not captured.
NICE has come under fire several times over the past few years for failing to take enough account of patient views.
"This is translational research, it's about getting things into our process and methodology that will make a real difference to patients," insisted NICE clinical and public health director Professor Peter Littlejohns.
Other areas which could be covered by funding include means by which non-experimental evidence – as opposed to that from trials and including information from patients – could best be used in decision-making.
"NICE is tasked with making some of the most difficult decisions in public life, decisions that have an impact on the millions of people who use the NHS," continued Littlejohns.
"It's therefore vital for people to continue to have confidence not just in the guidance we produce, but also in the processes and methods we use to produce it."
Scientists have until 22 July to get their proposals, which will be peer-reviewed externally, to the MRC and a decision on funding is expected in November.
Proposals are likely to look at one of more of the following:
* Analysis and design of effectiveness studies and their synthesis
* Synthesis of evidence from patients, the public and stakeholders
* Economic analysis and uncertainty
* Measurement and valuation of benefits
* Decision making at NICE
Researchers will be expected to start "within a short time frame" and complete work in less than two years.
Professor Sir Ian Kennedy is currently leading a separate review of the way NICE assesses innovation and is expected to present his findings this month.
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