In this blog, I’ll discuss how a new UK-wide cross-government working group, including industry trade bodies has been set up to improve patient access to innovative health technologies. The group will aim to ensure good connectivity between regulatory, health technology assessment, and commercial processes.

Rapid growth of innovative health technologies

The pharmaceutical pipeline is developing at a rapid pace, as scientific knowledge evolves.

New and innovative mechanisms of action are constantly being discovered and developed into medicines that tackle a broad range of complex diseases. Medical technology is advancing at a similar pace – with products emerging such as wearable devices that help us live healthier lives, and cutting-edge genomic testing and sequencing.

Together with other regulators, health technology assessment (HTA) agencies and healthcare systems, we are responding to this pace of change by optimising the routes for evaluating innovative health technologies.

We are also using enhanced horizon scanning – a vital tool to ensure we have a thorough understanding of the pipeline, and can take steps to prepare health systems accordingly.  

Connecting agencies across the 4 UK nations

The recent 2024 voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing, access and growth (VPAG) highlighted a shared ambition to ensure good connectivity between regulatory, HTA and commercial processes. This is to help provide clear end-to-end routes to market for new health technologies, such as medicines and medical devices.

To ensure HTA, regulatory and commissioning processes remain interconnected, it was agreed as part of the VPAG scheme, that a UK-wide cross-government working group would be established. The working group would include representatives from industry, in a non-decision-making capacity. And its aim would be to improve the coordination of HTA activities across organisational boundaries.

The Medicines and Medical Devices (MMD) Access Initiative – a collaboration across the four nations - has now been established to achieve this aim.

This group consists of health service bodies that are united by a common goal to improve patient access to safe, clinically and cost-effective healthcare products.

The initiative seeks to develop more aligned frameworks for the introduction of innovative health technologies, that is used consistently across UK. In addition, it will share intelligence across the four nations, to ensure that technologies reach patients in a timely manner and that there is no variation in access.

The MMD is separate to the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway (ILAP) which aims to accelerate the time to patient care for transformative medicines and medicine-device combinations via a single integrated platform.

How will the MMD work?

The MMD Access Initiative is overseen by a steering committee function. This creates a forum for the partners to consider how the healthcare ecosystem can collectively improve patient access across all 4 nations.

The initiative currently has two working groups: one for medicines and one for medical devices – with both groups having horizon scanning and information sharing within their remit.

Next steps

As the MMD Access Initiative evolves, it will communicate the purpose, activities and outputs of the initiative to different audiences, while assessing the potential for future partnerships.

Bringing together cross-functional expertise and experience from all 4 nations across the UK, supported by industry trade associations, under one exciting initiative will provide much needed cohesion in a rapidly developing and dynamic life sciences environment.

A true end-to-end pathway can only work if all the key elements of the system are aligned. The MMD Access Initiative is an important step towards providing the forum and structure for this to take place.

Collaborating members:  

  • All Wales Therapeutics and Toxicology Centre  

  • Department of Health Northern Ireland  

  • Department of Health and Social Care

  • Healthcare Improvement Scotland, Scottish Health Technologies Group

  • Healthcare Improvement Scotland, Scottish Medicines Consortium  

  • Health Research Authority  

  • Heath Technology Wales  

  • Health and Social Care – NI 

  • Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency  

  • National Institute for Health and Care Excellence  

  • National Services Division Scotland 

  • National Health Service England  

  • NIHR Innovation Observatory 

  • Scottish Government  

  • UKRI Innovate UK 

  • UK Health Security Agency 

  • NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership 

  • Welsh Government  

Industry Trade Associations

  • Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI)

  • Association of British Healthtech Industries (ABHI)

  • BioIndustry Association (BIA)

  • British In Vitro Diagnostic Association

  • British Generic Manufacturers Association (BGMA)

  • British Healthcare Trades Association

  • Ethical Medicines Industry Group (EMIG) 

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