NICE recommends roflumilast for people with severe COPD only if they are taking part in a research study (clinical trial) that is investigating using roflumilast at the same time as a bronchodilator (a type of inhaled drug).
Why has NICE said this?
NICE looks at how well treatments work, and also at how well they work in relation to how much they cost the NHS.
NICE recommended that roflumilast should be used only as part of a research study because at the moment there is not enough evidence about how well it works or about the best way to use it to recommend it for use in the NHS.
Your responsibility
The recommendations in this guidance represent the view of NICE, arrived at after careful consideration of the evidence available. When exercising their judgement, health professionals are expected to take this guidance fully into account, alongside the individual needs, preferences and values of their patients. The application of the recommendations in this guidance is at the discretion of health professionals and their individual patients and do not override the responsibility of healthcare professionals to make decisions appropriate to the circumstances of the individual patient, in consultation with the patient and/or their carer or guardian.
Commissioners and/or providers have a responsibility to provide the funding required to enable the guidance to be applied when individual health professionals and their patients wish to use it, in accordance with the NHS Constitution. They should do so in light of their duties to have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, to advance equality of opportunity and to reduce health inequalities.