Can We Afford Medical Advances?

Medical advances, particularly the very expensive new therapeutic agents, will almost certainly not be affordable unless additional mechanisms are developed to deal with their introduction and subsequent use within the NHS. The granting of a product licence should be based on cost-effectiveness as well as on clinical efficacy and safety as proven by controlled clinical trials. The freedom of individual practitioners to prescribe both in general practice and in hospitals has to be restricted as far as the very expensive drugs are concerned.