Vow to slash NHS drug approval time

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Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said a Conservative government would overhaul the way that the official medicines watchdog - the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) - operated.

A key element of the plan would be to remove the need for final ministerial approval for a new drug.

The Tories would also shift the burden of proof of the effectiveness of new drugs from Nice to the manufacturer, so that it would be up to the drugs company to prove they work rather than Nice to prove they do not.

And Nice would be allowed to take into account the wider social cost of denying a drug to patients when assessing its value or benefit.

Mr Lansley said: "Patients in the NHS in Britain get slower access to new medicines than any other major European country.

"Too often the NHS treats Nice as an excuse for delay. We have to move to a system where Nice facilitates access to the best care at the earliest possible time."