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The cost of a QALY
R Kirkdale1, J Krell, C O'Hanlon Brown
1Imperial College, London.
Background:
Current regulation of drug approvals has caused considerable controversy as entrusted to the National Institute of Clinical Excellence, and has led to a lack of availability of modern medicines on the basis of calculations made of 'value'.
Aim:
We have examined the assessment tool used by National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) to establish the cost of drugs in order to assess whether it is a reasonable and objective evaluation methodology.
Design:
A review of the methods of analysis.
Methods:
An objective assessment of the value of the Quality Adjusted Life Year (QALY).
Results:
We conclude that current methods used by NICE to assess drug costs are arbitrary, subjective and fail to reflect the true costs for patients, which are grossly overestimated.
Conclusion:
NICE needs to look again at the evaluation methods for calculating drug costs, and change their methodology from a subjective to an objective measure of true cost.
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