The U.K. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) released several draft and final health technology assessments on July 5, including a review of the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to aid in the detection of lung nodules in CT images. The agency said that more research is needed before it will be able to provide an unqualified endorsement because of a relative lack of data that could be reliably generalized from clinical study subjects to the broader U.K. population at large.
The U.K. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has undertaken a public consultation for a series of proposed changes to its procedures for evaluating medical devices and other medical technologies that could speed up these reviews. This new process would require a less time-consuming approach to evaluating lower-risk technologies that would not only turn around such evaluations more rapidly but would also leave more resources available for higher-risk products that would also enjoy a timelier review, thus potentially accelerating adoption of all these products in the National Health System.
Radiotherapy fractionation has had a significant impact on the morbidity associated with the procedure across a number of cancer types, and the U.K. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) says it may be time to fractionate further for some breast cancer patients.
In a new health technology assessment, the U.K. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has voiced misgivings about the evidence behind the use of MRI/ultrasound fusion systems to perform needle biopsy for suspected prostate cancer. NICE said the evidence for these systems could be bolstered by additional research comparing fusion biopsy to cognitive fusion-directed biopsy, suggesting that companies working in this space have a significant evidentiary lift in front of them.
The U.K. government should speed up the approval process for medical devices and strengthen the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, as there is an opportunity for the country to provide global leadership in life sciences regulation in medical devices and medicines on the back of Brexit, according to a report.
Britain’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), a key gatekeeper on the path to the U.K. market, is backing away from five COVID-19 treatments. No longer recommended in a draft guidance were Ronapreve (casirivimab + imdevimab) from Roche Holding AG, Xevudy (sotrovimab) from GSK plc, and Evusheld (tixagevimab + cilgavimab) from Astrazeneca plc. NICE also recommended discontinuing use of Lagevrio (molnupiravir) from Merck and Co. Inc. and Veklury (remdesivir) from Gilead Sciences Inc.
The notion of a device that disappears from the human body once its work is done has driven massive investments in bioresorbable coronary artery scaffolds and stents, but these devices have had a difficult time getting to and staying on the market. The U.K. National Institute of Health and Care Excellence determined recently that these devices are not ready for routine use and should be deployed only in clinical trials.
The U.K. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) issued a pair of health technology assessments related to regurgitation of the tricuspid valve, one each for valve leaflet repair and for valve annuloplasty.
Those who are burdened with Marfan syndrome face a lifetime of multi-organ system issues including potential aortic aneurysm, but help may be on the way in the U.K. The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued a recommendation that these patients be treated with personalized external aortic root support (PEARS) to treat both aortic root expansion and aortic dissection, although the agency indicated that this procedure is not quite ready for routine use in the National Health Service.
Primary care doctors in England have been told by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to prescribe a digital therapeutic instead of sleeping tablets for patients suffering with insomnia. Sleepio, an app developed by London-based Big Health Ltd. that uses an algorithm to provide personalized cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), could benefit up to 800,000 people, according to NICE. It is recommending use of the app as an effective alternative to drugs such as zolpidem and zopiclone, after weighing evidence from 28 studies, including 12 randomized controlled trials.