Policy paper

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) economic growth goals

Published 8 July 2026

This was published under the 2024 to 2026 Starmer Labour government

Introduction

In March 2025, the government set out in the Regulation Action Plan its vision for overhauling the regulatory landscape so that it:

• protects consumers
• supports competition
• encourages growth

At the Regional Investment Summit in October 2025, the Chancellor gave an update on delivery of the Regulation Action Plan, setting out the progress made and where the government would go further and faster. As part of this, the government announced that it would ensure the ‘key regulators’ (the 16 regulators named in the plan) had clear direction on how they can support its overriding mission to deliver economic growth. This commitment sat alongside the announcement that the existing Growth Duty would be strengthened.

Government departments have since been developing outcome-focused growth goals, where no equivalent framework already exists. These goals provide regulators with a structured set of priorities that clarify how their actions should support economic growth. They are designed to be measurable, with specific results to enable progress tracking, and accompanied by an ‘impact narrative’, which explains how regulators’ actions are expected to encourage economic growth.

This document sets out the growth goals that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has agreed with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), consistent with its statutory role and independence.

The government and NICE agree that NICE supports economic growth. It does this by helping the health and care system adopt effective new treatments quickly and consistently, while making sure they offer value for taxpayers. This reflects NICE’s role, which includes supporting innovation in the provision of health services and social care in England.

Goal 1: accelerate and streamline NICE’s health technology assessment (HTA) processes to support earlier market entry

Outcome goal

Reduce the time it takes to get clinically and cost-effective medicines and health technologies (‘health tech’) into the NHS and make timely updates to NICE’s assessment methods to reflect the latest evidence.

Key results

NICE will aim to achieve the following results:

• faster, more predictable evaluations of health technologies, completing 60% of technology appraisals for medicines within 240 working days of invitation to participate (ITP), for new topics started from April 2025 (up from 40% for appraisals in financial year 2024 to 2025)
• evaluate the first 2 technologies through the National HealthTech Access Programme and publish final guidance in quarter 1 (Q1) of financial year 2027 to 2028. The programme will provide industry with a clear route to NHS funding and will result in routine adoption by the NHS if recommended by NICE

Impact narrative

Predictable, timely appraisals reduce commercial uncertainty, encouraging companies to prioritise the UK for launches and investment.

Consistent adoption and reimbursement of medical technologies incentivise investment in the UK, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that make up the large majority (85%) of the health tech sector. 

Goal 2: adopt a ‘whole lifecycle approach’ to guidance production

Outcome goal

Re‑evaluate clinical pathways guided by the latest evidence, to maximise patient outcomes, value and to create financial ‘headroom’ for innovation.

Key results

NICE will aim to achieve the following results:

• consider all 521 current technology appraisals for incorporation into NICE’s clinical guidelines by January 2027. This will ensure that everything NICE recommends for a condition can be found in one place, supporting adoption by clinical users
• adopt a rolling programme of updating guidance in priority clinical areas to ensure recommendations continue to reflect best practice, and improving how information is presented in pathways with multiple treatment options to guide the efficient use of innovations
• develop a test solution to retire guidelines that are no longer up to date by the end of 2026
• review existing guidance for medicines to assess whether eligible patient populations can be expanded where generic (non-branded) medicines or biosimilars become available. A biosimilar is a biological medicine that has been shown not to have any clinically meaningful differences from an already approved biological medicine, in terms of quality, safety and efficacy

Impact narrative

NICE guidance will be kept up to date to reflect the latest best practice. This will improve patient outcomes and remove inefficient spending to free NHS budgetary headroom for innovative products.

Improving the ease of adoption of NICE guidance by clinical users will help to increase uptake for new technologies.

Goal 3: improve process alignment between the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and NICE

Outcome goal

Deepen integration with MHRA to reduce time‑to‑market for innovative products.

Key results

NICE will aim to achieve the following results:

• aim to reduce the average time between MHRA approval and NICE guidance for medicines by at least 3 months, with a stretch goal of 6 months, following the implementation of the parallel regulatory and HTA assessment for suitable products on 1 April 2026
• strengthen information sharing between technical experts to reduce duplication

Impact narrative

A seamless end‑to‑end regulatory and HTA pathway differentiates the UK internationally, supporting inward investment, clinical trials activity and earlier commercialisation.

Joined up processes enabled by data-sharing and collaboration between NICE and MHRA will also result in reduced administrative costs for industry. The integrated advice service will reduce uncertainties regarding evidence requirements, help companies avoid unforeseen delays and make further efficiencies that will support the life sciences sector.

Improving the predictability of regulatory processes will position the UK as an attractive and reliable launch market.

Goal 4: assessment and incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI)

Outcome goal

Maintain NICE’s scientific leadership in responsible use of AI in health technology evaluations, guideline development and internal processes.

Key results

NICE will aim to achieve the following results:

• stimulate productivity in the medicines and health tech sectors by providing guidance to life science companies on how best to incorporate AI into evidence synthesis and cost-effectiveness modelling by the end of Q4 in financial year 2026 to 2027
• following the AI Opportunities Action Plan, complete 10 end-to-end AI evaluations of high-priority internal AI use cases across HTA and guideline development by the end of Q4 in financial year 2026 to 2027
• build a knowledge platform that transforms guidance content into structured, interoperable and AI-ready knowledge, enabling effective use of AI across the organisation and the wider health and care system, with phase 1 completed by the end of Q2 in financial year 2026 to 2027
• publish 4 NICE health tech guidance documents on AI technologies referred to NICE by the Secretary of State by the end of Q4 in financial year 2026 to 2027

Impact narrative

Providing guidance to companies will support AI innovation and more efficient market access, giving innovators clarity, consistency and machine‑readable standards while maintaining public trust.

NICE will actively reduce barriers to innovation by making its guidance easier to find, interpret, update and integrate into digital health solutions. Evaluating technologies that use AI will improve outcomes and efficiency in the health service.

These measures will also enable faster learning and adaptation, allowing NICE and the system to respond more quickly to emerging evidence, technologies and AI enabled care models.

Goal 5: strengthen international engagement to support UK life sciences growth

Outcome goal

NICE will work in partnership with the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) to play a more systematic international role in shaping global approaches to HTA. This will support faster, more predictable market access for UK innovators overseas.

Key results

NICE will aim to achieve the following results:

• build on existing international engagement to develop a clearer, longer‑term pipeline of regulator‑to‑regulator collaboration in priority growth markets, focused on sharing NICE’s expertise in evidence-based decision‑making and value assessment
• subject to future funding arrangements, scale NICE’s contribution through established government programmes (including the Ricardo Fund) to support sustained engagement on HTA methods, managed access, and use of real‑world evidence
• strengthen co-ordination with DHSC, MHRA and DBT to ensure NICE’s international activity is aligned with wider UK life sciences and trade priorities

Impact narrative

Expanding NICE’s international engagement helps reduce regulatory and evidentiary barriers facing UK companies in overseas markets, particularly for innovative medicines and health technologies.

Increased international recognition of NICE’s approaches supports earlier and more predictable adoption of UK‑developed products and reinforces the UK’s reputation as a leader in health technology assessment. It also complements domestic efforts to attract life sciences investment and launch activity.