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Patron: Her Majesty the Queen
Patron: Her Majesty the Queen
6th Meeting of the 186th Session (2006-2007)
In the Wolfson Suite, Ground Floor
Edinburgh University Library
George Square, Edinburgh
On Monday 19th March 2007, at 7pm
Over the last 10 years there has been a growing realization that health care costs are potentially limitless. To meet the public's understandable expectation of access to new and innovative medicines, and at the same time to avoid bankrupting the Treasury, there is a need to ensure that the entry of new medicines in the NHS is managed. Some medicines offer more value to the NHS than others, based on a balance between their cost and the benefits they provide (so-called cost-effectiveness). The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has played an important part within the UK, and internationally, in developing new approaches to judging the value of new medicines at an early stage after licensing so that Scottish patients have early access to those that provide good value for money, complementing the broader reviews, at a later stage after licensing, from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in England.
Professor Webb will discuss how and why cost-effectiveness has emerged as a new hurdle that new drugs have to leap in their development, focusing on the creation and work of the SMC, and highlighting its achievements over the past 5 years. He will address some of the challenges - such as meeting the expectations of the public, patients, pharmaceutical industry, politicians, and the press — as well as the need to provide clear, consistent and equitable advice to the NHS in Scotland.
Professor David Webb is Christison Professor of Therapeutics and Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Edinburgh and Consultant Physician at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. He is Vice-President of the Royal College of Physicians, Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and Chair of the Committee of Heads and Professors of Clinical Pharmacology in the UK. His research interests are in the cardiovascular field, primarily in relation to vascular structure and function.
As Chair of the Lothian Area Drug and Therapeutics Committee and, since 2004, as Chair of the Scottish Medicines Consortium, much of his effort in recent years has been spent in ensuring that medicines are used to best effect within the NHS in Scotland.
The President, Professor Anthony Busuttil, will be in the Chair
Members of the Public are welcome to attend
Jane Ridder-Patrick, Secretary
secretary@rssa.org.uk
Telephone: 0131 556 2161
The Royal Scottish Society of Arts is Registered Scottish Charity SC015549