Summerhayes Maxwell, Catchpole Paul
Medical Department, Roche Products, Hexagon Place, 6 Falcon Way, Shire Park, Welwyn Garden City AL7 1TW, UK.
Eur J Cancer. 2006 Nov;42(17):2881-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2006.08.013. Epub 2006 Oct 27.
This article reviews the work of England's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in the area of cancer treatment since it was established in 1999. NICE provides guidance to the National Health Service (NHS) in England and Wales on the clinical- and cost-effectiveness of therapeutic interventions and aims to support uniform and evidence-based care. Its most high profile work involves making judgements on whether new drug treatments should be available to NHS patients. Over 20 appraisals of anticancer drugs have now been completed by NICE; most have endorsed the availability of the reviewed agent, which is good news for cancer patients. Unfortunately, positive guidance does not, necessarily, eradicate inequalities of access. There are also concerns relating to access to drugs during the period when NICE guidance is being developed and for patients requiring treatments--often for less common cancers--which are not referred to NICE for appraisal.
本文回顾了英国国家卫生与临床优化研究所（NICE）自1999年成立以来在癌症治疗领域的工作。NICE就治疗干预措施的临床和成本效益向英格兰和威尔士的国民医疗服务体系（NHS）提供指导，旨在支持统一且基于证据的医疗服务。其最受瞩目的工作包括判断NHS患者是否应能使用新药治疗。NICE现已完成了20多项抗癌药物评估；大多数评估都认可了所审查药物的可用性，这对癌症患者来说是个好消息。不幸的是，积极的指导并不一定能消除获取药物方面的不平等现象。在NICE制定指导期间以及对于需要治疗（通常是针对不太常见癌症）但未提交给NICE进行评估的患者而言，药物获取方面也存在问题。
