Latest news with #NICE
Malay Mail
a day ago
- Health
- Malay Mail
Putrajaya to bolster health technology assessment with new website, AI tools, frameworks
KUALA LUMPUR, July 30 — Malaysia has launched six new initiatives to embed evidence-based healthcare, expand digital tools, and improve patient-focused services, as part of efforts to strengthen health policy and delivery, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said today. Led by the Malaysian Health Technology Assessment Section (MaHTAS), these initiatives represent a major step forward in embedding evidence-based practices across all levels of the healthcare system. 'These initiatives will not only deepen the use of evidence in clinical and policy settings but also foster cross-sector collaboration and position Malaysia at the forefront of health innovation,' Dzulkefly said in his speech at the National Health Technology Assessment Conference 2025 here. According to Dzulkefly, the six initiatives designed to modernise Malaysia's healthcare evaluation and delivery include: MyMaHTAS website: A redesigned digital platform offering easy access to HTA reports, Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs), and other tools for clinicians, researchers, and policymakers. Guide to Using Real-World Evidence (RWE): Explains how data from electronic medical records and observational studies can complement clinical trials to generate practical, localised health insights. Public Health Intervention Framework: A new tool to support more comprehensive evaluations of public health programmes by factoring in broader elements like equity and societal benefit. MaHTAS Assessment Framework for Digital Health Technology (DHT): Ensures rigorous, locally relevant evaluations of digital innovations such as mobile apps, telehealth platforms, and AI-powered tools. Ask CPG Platform: An AI-powered platform providing clinicians with real-time, point-of-care access to MaHTAS-developed clinical guidelines to support better decision-making. White Paper on Enhancing Medical Device Assessment: Outlines seven strategic actions to align medical device evaluations with value-based healthcare principles. Dzulkefly also said he wanted MaHTAS to evolve into a recognised Centre of Excellence, similar to international counterparts like the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). He noted that NICE was established years after MaHTAS yet is now internationally acknowledged. 'I want Malaysia to move in the same direction,' he said, tasking the ministry's top leadership with driving this effort. 'My role is to provide the vision and direction, while the secretary-General will facilitate and coordinate the necessary implementation processes to realise this aspiration,' he added.
Medscape
3 days ago
- Health
- Medscape
Weight-Loss Drug Demand Risks Overwhelming Pharmacies
Unprecedented demand for weight-loss medication risks going far beyond what is clinically deliverable, the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has warned. A survey of over 2000 adults for the NPA found that more than 1 in 5 adults had attempted to access weight-loss treatments — either online or in person — in the past year. Among 16- to 34-year-olds, the figure rose to more than 1 in 3. In contrast, only 7% of adults over 55 had made similar attempts. The NPA said that many people seeking treatment are not clinically eligible. It urged the government to bring forward plans to include pharmacies in the rollout of the NHS weight management-programme. The association said social media had played a major role in fuelling demand, raising concerns that patients could turn to unregulated online suppliers. Tighter Safeguards Needed The NPA called for new regulations to protect patients buying weight-loss medication online, ensuring a two-way consultation and a review of relevant medical records by a qualified prescriber. The survey, carried out by market research firm Savanta, also found that 41% would be willing to access weight-loss treatments through the NHS if these were made available to them. Among 25- to 34-year-olds, the figure rose to 64%. The NPA said the findings highlight booming demand for both private and NHS weight-loss services. Eligibility Criteria Remain Strict According to guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, patients must meet strict clinical criteria to be prescribed drugs such as Mounjaro and Wegovy. Pharmacy-prescribed patients typically need a BMI of at least 35 and at least one weight-related comorbidity. Wegovy may be offered to people with a BMI of 30-34.9 who meet the criteria for referral to specialist overweight and obesity management services. Currently, the NHS offers Mounjaro only to those with a BMI of over 40 and at least four comorbidities. GP Services Already Under Strain Last month, after Mounjaro became available at GP surgeries in England, Royal College of General Practitioners chair Professor Kamila Hawthorne urged patients not to contact their GP unless they thought they met eligibility criteria. She warned that GPs were already "overburdened" and lacked the workforce to meet additional demand. The NPA estimates that at least 85% of prescriptions for weight-loss medication were handled by pharmacies in April this year. During the launch of the 10-Year Health Plan, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer pledged to deliver 'innovative weight-loss services' through pharmacies. However, the NPA noted that no further details have been provided about pharmacy involvement in the NHS rollout of these services. 'Weight-loss jabs are one of the biggest drug innovations this century,' said Olivier Picard, NPA chair. 'But growing demand for weight-loss treatment highlights the need to make sure this is appropriate for those who want it,' he added. 'We want to make sure supplies are carefully managed so that those in most clinical need can benefit,' Picard said.
Medscape
3 days ago
- Health
- Medscape
Weight Loss Drug Demand Risks Overwhelming Pharmacies
Unprecedented demand for weight loss medication risks going far beyond what is clinically deliverable, the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has warned. A survey of over 2000 adults for the NPA found that more than one in five adults had attempted to access weight loss treatments — either online or in person — in the past year. Among 16-34-year-olds, the figure rose to more than one in three. In contrast, only 7% of adults over 55 had made similar attempts. The NPA said that many people seeking treatment are not clinically eligible. It urged the government to bring forward plans to include pharmacies in the rollout of the NHS weight management programme. The association said social media had played a major role in fuelling demand, raising concerns that patients could turn to unregulated online suppliers. Tighter Safeguards Needed The NPA called for new regulations to protect patients buying weight loss medication online, ensuring a two-way consultation and a review of relevant medical records by a qualified prescriber. The survey, carried out by market research firm Savanta, also found that 41% would be willing to access weight loss treatments through the NHS if these were made available to them. Among 25-34-year-olds, the figure rose to 64%. The NPA said the findings highlight booming demand for both private and NHS weight loss services. Eligibility Criteria Remain Strict According to guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, patients must meet strict clinical criteria to be prescribed drugs such as Mounjaro and Wegovy. Pharmacy-prescribed patients typically need a BMI of at least 35 kg/m2 and at least one weight-related comorbidity. Wegovy may be offered to people with a BMI of 30-34.9 kg/m2 who meet the criteria for referral to specialist overweight and obesity management services. Currently, the NHS only offers Mounjaro to those with a BMI of over 40 and at least four comorbidities. GP Services Already Under Strain Last month, after Mounjaro becoming available at GP surgeries in England, Royal College of General Practitioners chair Professor Kamila Hawthorne urged patients not to contact their GP unless they thought they met eligibility criteria. She warned that GPs were already "over-burdened" and lacked the workforce to meet additional demand. The NPA estimates that at least 85% of prescriptions for weight loss medication were handled by pharmacies in April this year. During the launch of the 10-Year Health Plan, Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer pledged to deliver 'innovative weight loss services' through pharmacies. However, the NPA noted that no further details have been provided about pharmacy involvement in the NHS rollout of these services. 'Weight loss jabs are one of the biggest drug innovations this century,' said Olivier Picard, NPA chair. 'But growing demand for weight loss treatment highlights the need to make sure this is appropriate for those who want it,' he added. 'We want to make sure supplies are carefully managed so that those in most clinical need can benefit,' Picard said.
Spectator
5 days ago
- Science
- Spectator
Is this CS Lewis' most prescient work?
It's been 80 years since CS Lewis' remarkably prescient, That Hideous Strength, was published. The final book in a sci-fi trilogy, the novel recounts the battle for the soul of humanity in the heart of England. Even in 1945, George Orwell saw that: 'Plenty of people in our age do entertain the monstrous dreams of power that Mr Lewis attributes to his characters [the NICE scientists], and we are within sight of the time when such dreams will be realisable.' Little did he realise how soon his fears would play out. That Hideous Strength focuses around the National Institute of Coordinated Experiments (NICE), which aims to bring Britain under the rule of Science, beginning the process of transforming the human race into an inorganic species governed by a single, immortal leader. 'The human race is to become all Technocracy,' NICE high-up Professor Augustus Frost explains to recruit Mark Studdock. The plans include the sterilisation and selective breeding of the population, with indoctrination achieved through biochemical conditioning and the 'direct manipulation of the brain'. Ultimately, organic life is to be abolished: the new humans will be formed of chemicals and live on a 'clean' planet divested of vegetation. Crucially, without sex, man 'will finally become governable'. Eighty years on, the story reads like a fictional exploration of transhumanism and current technologies, from chips in the brain to global digital systems for identification and travel. A mysterious figure – part Arthurian, part Christ-like – leads the fight for an alternative future rooted in spiritual enlightenment and a wholesome kind of Englishness. Like The Chronicles of Narnia, That Hideous Strength is a classic tale of Good vs Evil but, as its subtitle A Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-Ups suggests, it's also a sober exploration of the direction 'scientific progress' is taking us. NICE leaders choose Edgestow as the place to begin the takeover, where the 'progressive element' of the nearby university makes for easy pickings. The fellows nod through the sale of some college land while the faculty serves as a 'recruiting office' for the institute. Their prize recruit is Mark, a 'sociologist who can write', to produce newspaper articles to persuade the British public that change is necessary. 'It's the educated reader who CAN be gulled,' explains Lord Feverstone, a figure working with both government and NICE. 'When did you meet a workman who believes the papers? He takes it for granted that they're all propaganda and skips the leading articles…But the educated public, the people who read the high-brow weeklies, don't need reconditioning. They're all right already. They'll believe anything.' Deception will only be needed in the early stages: 'Once the thing gets going we shan't have to bother about the great heart of the British public'. And sure enough, NICE's private police force are soon terrorising the people of Edgestow. The signs the takeover is well underway have a curiously contemporary ring. Edgestow is home to a new population of imported workmen, prices have risen and the hotels have somehow passed into hands of NICE. A dense fog blankets the heart of England. Riots are engineered to get the powers justified by a state of emergency. The propaganda aimed at the working man is successful: in the pubs the locals blame the Welsh and Irish for the state of things. Lured into NICE by the prospect of higher salary and status, corrupted by the need to please and belong, it takes the befuddled Mark a long time to understand what he's dealing with. Just as he finally realises his life is in danger, it emerges that NICE's aspirations are global. There is no point in attempting to flee to America, as the 'claws' of the institute are 'embedded in every country'. By this point, some readers will be nodding in wonderment at how Lewis, writing during the Second World War, could have foreseen our present situation with such accuracy. Others will see familiar plot elements as stemming from dystopian fiction's classic device of warning by way of exaggeration. Either way, the heart of the novel concerns choice. In the spiritual war playing out, a side must be taken and the last battle fought. There is no way to avoid confronting the 'hideous strength'. In this, the final book of the trilogy, it is ordinary English people who must make that choice. In the second, entitled Perelandra, Ransom, a venturesome Cambridge don who has travelled to Venus, is confronted with Unman, a kind of automated psychopath. Ransom attempts some typically English tactics: first talking his enemy, then ignoring him and finally running away. When Unman reappears, Ransom realises the only resolution is to kill him. But as a creature of dark, transhumanist forces, Unman cannot be destroyed by ordinary means. Ransom has to dig deep and it takes two goes, the first requiring physical courage and the second the psychological ability to face and overcome inner fears. On earth, the encounter with the hideous strengthpresents just two paths: follow the transhumanists or join The Resistance. Mark's wife Jane takes the latter path only after much hesitation and resisting the messages of her clairvoyant dreams. Lewis presents his heroine as a stereotypical woman of her times: hankering after independence while constrained by the conventional values of her society. Two moments of truth push Jane to join the community of the good based at a nearby manor house: her direct experience of evil when she is captured and tortured by NICE and her subsequent meeting with the community Director – a 'bright solar blend of king and lover and magician' – when she finds her world 'unmade'. Mark's moral journey is messier and more human. Even when confronted with the truth about NICE and offered sanctuary with The Resistance, he still can't quite make the right decision. Lewis captures the moral confusion of a weak character perfectly: 'he wanted to be perfectly safe and yet also very nonchalant and daring' while his mind was 'one fluid confusion of wounded vanity and jostling fears and shames'. All the while, Lewis studs the novel with details that convey the everyday quality of life on earth and the potential for goodness even in in times of evil. The horror of what is happening in Edgestow is counter-balanced with elements of English cosiness – just as in the depths of the Narnian winter, you can still have a good tea with Mr and Mrs Beaver. I won't ruin things with a spoiler – better to read the entire trilogy yourself. The reception of the book in 1945 may have been mixed, but this belated reviewer finds it brilliantly illuminating. That Hideous Strength has come into its time.
Powys County Times
23-07-2025
- Health
- Powys County Times
'Breakthrough' for hay fever sufferers through new NHS drug
Hay fever sufferers are set to benefit from a new daily treatment that officials say offers "long-term relief". Hay fever is a common allergy that causes sneezing, coughing and itchy eyes. You cannot cure it, but there are things you can do to help your symptoms, or medicines you can take to help. But if you've clicked on this article, you probably didn't need us to tell you that. I'm not being dramatic but i might be the first person to die from hayfever. — Sheena (@sarky_sheena) July 20, 2025 The new under-the-tongue immunotherapy tablet works by training the immune system to tolerate tree pollen over three years of daily use. The drug, called Betula verrusca and sold under the brand name Itulazax 12 SQ-Bet, has been recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) as a hay fever treatment on the NHS. NICE estimates that around 27,000 people in England will benefit from the treatment, which is recommended for people whose hay fever symptoms persist even after taking antihistamines or using nasal sprays. Helen Knight, director of medicines evaluation at NICE, said: "This treatment will help improve people's quality of life. "Severe tree pollen allergies trap people indoors during beautiful weather and disrupt their work, education and family life. "The daily tablet offers genuine long-term relief rather than just managing symptoms." Symptoms are usually worse between late March and September, especially when it's warm, humid and windy. This is when the pollen count is at its highest. Hay fever can last for weeks or months, unlike a cold, which usually goes away after 1 to 2 weeks. Amena Warner, head of clinical services at Allergy UK, said: "Many people don't realise how awful it is having an itchy, runny nose, sneezing episodes or itchy, irritated eyes in the pollen season. "We frequently hear from people who avoid time outdoors, keep doors and windows shut, check pollen counts and try and minimise any exposure, which takes a significant toll on their physical and emotional wellbeing. "NICE's recommendation is so important because it provides a genuine opportunity for people to manage the root cause of their pollen allergy, offering the chance to break free from this burden and enjoy a better quality of life."
