Accelerated Access Review

In November 2014, George Freeman MP, Minister for Life Sciences, announced the launch of the Innovative medicines and medtech review, later renamed the Accelerated Access Review. Its aim is to “speed up access to innovative drugs, devices and diagnostics for NHS patients”. The Review will make recommendations to Government on reforms to the pathways for the development, assessment, and adoption of innovative medicines and medical products for NHS patients. It will focus on three main areas of potential reform: regulation, reimbursement and uptake.

The independent review has been formally underway since March 2015 and is being led by Sir Hugh Taylor, Chair of Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, with support provided by the Government’s Office for Life Sciences. Sir Hugh is also being supported by an External Advisory Group (EAG) headed by Professor Sir John Bell GBE FRS HonFREng FMedSci. 

Accelerated Access Review discussion dinner

In May 2015, Professor Sir John Tooke PMedSci, President of the Academy of Medical Sciences, met with Sir Hugh to discuss the Access Review and to offer some initial input on where opportunities might lie across the current innovation pathway. As part of its contribution to the review, the Academy organised a discussion dinner on 13 July, co-hosted by Sir John Tooke and Sir John Bell, to explore some of the areas being tackled by the review and to provide further input. This was attended by Fellows drawn from regulatory agencies, the life sciences industry, academia and the third sector, as well as two members of the review’s EAG and a representative from the Office for Life Sciences. A brief note of this discussion is now available to download.

Additionally, on 17 September 2015, the Academy, in partnership with the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, held a workshop on 'Real world evidence', an area which is also being explored by the Review. 

The interim report from the Accelerated Access Review was published on 27 October 2015, and can be accessed here. The report sets out five propositions for accelerating access, based on responses to questions that were put to a wide range of stakeholders. These are: ‘putting the patient centre stage, getting ahead of the curve, supporting all innovators, galvanising the NHS and delivering change.’ Initial feedback is invited on these propositions and the associated conclusions, which can be found in the report. In January 2016, Professor Sir John Tooke FMedSci wrote a letter on the interim report to Sir Hugh Taylor, Chair of the Review, also highlighting the complementary workstreams that the Academy is undertaking. The letter can be downloaded from the righthand side of the page.

We are continuing to work on relevant topics in this area through recent FORUM meetings on 'Accelerating access to medical innovation' and 'Health economics for stratified medicine', as well as through the Academy's work on the wider Life Sciences Industrial Strategy, and we look forward to the Government's response to the Review in due course.