Overview

• UK officials briefed the Trump administration this week on proposals to change how the NHS prices medicines.
• The plan’s centerpiece would lift NICE’s cost-effectiveness threshold by about 25% from the current £20,000–£30,000 per QALY benchmark.
• Raising the threshold would allow more high-priced drugs to reach patients and would increase overall NHS spending on medicines.
• Ministers say talks with Washington are in advanced stages and they plan to brief UK pharmaceutical companies later this week, with the US response still unclear.
• Trump has threatened tariffs of up to 100% on drug imports under a pact that ties preferential treatment to improved conditions for American pharma, as UK officials warn investment has been drifting away.