Hi All
At last received an answer from my MP, although I don't think he will be signing. See below
I have delayed replying as I was investigating the situation in Scotland which is different to that in England. Here, The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) conducts rapid appraisals of medicines as soon as possible after they are launched and, therefore, assesses them before NICE, who advise the NHS in England and Wales. NICE conducts a longer, more in-depth assessment of medicines when there is uncertainty about their cost effectiveness or wide variation in provision. In practice, this means that NICE will appraise medicines approximately 18 months after SMC has considered them. In addition, please see the below from the Scottish Medicines Consortium's website:
Q -Is Guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) applicable in Scotland?
A - NICE Multiple Technology Appraisal (MTA): NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (NHS QIS) reviews MTAs and decides whether the recommendations should apply in Scotland Where NHS QIS decides that an MTA should apply in Scotland, the NICE guidance supersede SMC advice. Unlike the SMC process, MTAs examine a disease area or a class of drugs and usually contain new evidence gathered after the launch of drugs or new economic modelling.
NICE Single Technology Appraisal (STA): SMC is the source of advice for Scotland on new drug therapies and the NICE STA process therefore has no status in Scotland. If a NICE STA endorses a drug that was not recommended by the SMC, it is open to the manufacturers to resubmit the drug to SMC with new evidence. NHS QIS will remind NHSScotland of the SMC advice on the day of a NICE STA release.
I understand that we are still awaiting a decision on the Alzheimer's drug in Scotland.
I hope this is of assistance and if there is anything else you would like me to do, I would be happy to help
David