The U.K.'s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) often takes heat from drugmakers and patient groups for its decisions on which drugs the National Healthcare System should pay for. Expensive new cancer drugs of late have had difficulty getting past the watchdog agency. But it also wants to know what "societal values" should be considered, along with cost and efficiency, when making decisions. Now an appointed group of 30 people have given it that feedback, PMLive reports. The Citizen's Council suggested that collective responsibility, dignity, fairness, honesty, and humanity all should be considered. "Weighing up equity and efficiency is a tricky issue, so their draft report identifying the range of societal values underpinning judgements on this matter is very useful," NICE chairman Professor David Haslam said. Story | More