Early stage products

Working with our partners, we’ve identified categories of new, potentially highly effective products which need support through the regulatory and approvals process. This may be for any number of reasons: perhaps they require significant changes in clinical pathways, or substantial regulatory changes may be required.

At the meeting in June 2019, the AAC board agreed three categories of ‘early stage products’ (which have not received approval from NICE) for AAC support:

• Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products, or ATMPs. These medicines offer ground-breaking opportunities for the treatment of disease, and are based on genes, tissues, or cells.
• Histology Independent Treatments for Cancer. These medicines represent a radical approach whereby the same drug is used to treat all cancer types which have a certain genetic mutation (or biomarker) that is targeted by the drug.
• Artificial Intelligence. As announced by Health Secretary Matt Hancock in January 2020, Artificial Intelligence in Health and Care Award, run by the AAC, NHSX and NIHR, will make £140 million available over three years to accelerate the testing and evaluation of the most promising AI technologies which meet the strategic aims set out in the NHS Long Term Plan.

Late stage products

To fast track the best proven innovations to patients, the AAC is providing support for rapid uptake of these products with the following:

• Rapid Uptake Products programme: tailored support for selected innovations which have been given NICE approval.
• The Innovation and Technology Payment programme (ITP): removing some of the financial and procurement barriers to introducing new technologies.
• Academic Health Science Networks: seven programmes developed regionally and selected for national adoption and spread during 2018-2020.