4 Principles for developing medical technologies guidance

NICE process and methods

In developing medical technologies guidance, NICE aims to:

evaluate a single medical technology based on its own claimed patient and healthcare system benefits, not compared with similar technologies in a broader class
evaluate the case for adoption, with particular emphasis on technologies that when compared with current management may provide more benefits at the same or lower cost, or provide the same benefits at a lower cost
take a comparative effectiveness approach, with current practice or management usually being used as a comparator
evaluate the impact of the technology on the health and social care system, alongside its clinical benefits for patients
use appropriate health economic approaches to support the committee's decision-making
prioritise questions for future research to help reduce any uncertainty in the evidence as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The single technology approach is fundamental to achieving MTEP's aims of promoting faster uptake of innovative technologies. It enables the specific claimed benefits of innovative products to be rapidly evaluated and relevant guidance published.

If the topic oversight group considers that a technology selected for evaluation is in an area where there are a number of equivalent new medical technologies in development, and that these may merit consideration of their own potential benefits, then it may route the technologies to a NICE programme which uses multiple technology evaluation methods (for example, technology appraisals or diagnostics).

The characteristics of medical technologies (section 2.3) mean that the evidence presented to the committee about their claimed benefits may be associated with a large degree of uncertainty. Because of this, MTEP may encourage targeted research or data collection on certain technologies.