The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Scientific Advice team, working with the Science Policy and Research team at NICE, has provided its first piece of advice on the design of a patient preference study, with the aim to encourage more companies to seek its advice on the development of such studies.

The studies aim to capture patients’ insights so these can be incorporated into the clinical development programs for new treatments.

Working with Novartis, the pilot looked at a patient preference study for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), who experience breathing difficulties due primarily to narrowing of the airways. There are an estimated 1.2 million people living in the UK with COPD, with diagnosis up by 27% in the last decade.

NICE anticipates that its advice will guide early evidence generation, helping to transform study design and improve the quality of current processes, with aim to support the development of new products to treat COPD patients.

Jeanette Kusel, Director of NICE Scientific Advice said: “We are delighted to be able to shape our offering to suit the requirements of Novartis by offering advice and guidance on their patient preference study, which should help it to generate the data required to help future products meet the needs of COPD patients.”