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A to Z of MS National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)

NICE is the independent organisation responsible for providing national guidance on the promotion of good health and the prevention and treatment of ill health in England and Wales. It operates as a Special Health Authority of the NHS.

Formerly the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, NICE was established partly to ensure equity of care and medicines prescribing across the NHS in England and Wales. In April 2005, NICE was combined with the Health Development Agency to create a single organisation for the promotion of good health as well as the prevention and treatment of ill health.

What NICE does

NICE provides three types of clinical guidance for the treatment of ill health:

Technology appraisals - guidance on the use of new and existing medicines and treatments within the NHS in England and Wales.
Clinical guidelines - guidance on the appropriate treatment and care of people with specific diseases and conditions within the NHS in England and Wales.
Interventional procedures - guidance on whether interventional procedures used for diagnosis or treatment are safe enough and work well enough for routine use. Interventional procedures covers internal examinations using surgery or other invasive methods and treatments using lasers or radiation, such as x-rays.

Technology appraisal guidance issued for MS includes that given on the beta interferon drugs and glatiramer acetate in 2002 and natalizumab (Tysabri) in 2007. NICE has indicated that it will assess the new oral drugs for MS, cladribine and fingolimod, once these have been licensed.

It is probable that other new drug therapies, such as cannabis-based medicines will also be subject to NICE appraisal when a licence is granted.

NICE has also produced National Clinical Guidelines For the Management of Multiple Sclerosis in Primary and Secondary Care in the National Health Service.

NICE website

Scotland

In Scotland the role of NICE is split between the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC), which appraises new and existing medicines and treatments, and the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN), part of NHS Quality Improvement Scotland, which produces clinical guidelines in aspects of healthcare.