Cross posted from Nature’s The Great Beyond blog.
A controversial hybrid of clinical trial and patient access scheme that has cost well over a half a billion pounds came under furious assault today in the pages of medical journal the BMJ.
The UK’s ‘risk sharing scheme’ was designed to provide patients with access to four drugs for multiple sclerosis. In doing this it has also provoked an almighty row (by medical academic standards at least).
“The annual drug cost of the scheme is reported to be around £50m,” writes one team, led by Christopher McCabe of the University of Leeds. “If an assessment had been completed after the first two years, the NHS could have saved up to £250m already.”
McCabe’s paper claims there are clear conflicts of interest in those overseeing the scheme, which has cost a total of around £350 million.