Written question asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour) on Monday, 19 January 2026, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Monday, 2 February 2026. It was answered by Baroness Merron (Labour) on Monday, 26 January 2026 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.
Medical Treatments: Cost Effectiveness
- Question
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To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of adjusting the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence cost-effectiveness thresholds for highly specialised technology in line with the new single technology appraisal cost-effectiveness thresholds due to come into effect from April.
- Answer
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We have reached a landmark agreement with the United States of America that secures a preferential tariff rate of 0% for all pharmaceuticals exports to the US for at least three years, and preferential terms for the United Kingdom’s medical technology exports, meaning no additional new tariffs on medical technology. This means that, unlike anywhere else in the world, life sciences companies exporting medicines from the UK to the US will face no tariffs to do so, protecting jobs and investment in the UK.
The agreement will see the National Health Service invest approximately 25% more in innovative treatments which will be achieved through an increase to the standard cost-effectiveness threshold that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) uses and a change to the way in which NICE values health benefits to better reflect societal preferences.
There are currently no plans to increase the cost‑effectiveness threshold for the highly specialised technologies (HST) programme. The HST programme already operates at a much higher threshold than standard NICE technology appraisals, reflecting the challenges of bringing treatments for very rare conditions to market, and NICE has been able to recommend nearly all the treatments that have been evaluated through the HST programme for NHS use.
Secondary information
- Type
- Written question
- Reference
- HL13701
- Session
- 2024-26
- Grouped for answer
- Yes
- Subjects
- Cost effectiveness Drugs Medical treatments National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Technology
- Link
- View this Written question on www.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2026-01-26 18:00:39 +0000
- URI
- http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/lords/2024-26/HL13701
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- http://indexing.parliament.uk/Content/Edit/1?uri=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/lords/2024-26/HL13701
- In Solr
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