AWTTC Programme Director takes the stage at the NICE 2025 Conference

31 March 2025

AWTTC Programme Director, Dr Andrew Champion, has spoken about his delight and privilege at being invited to speak at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) 2025 Conference to celebrate 25 years of the organisation’s contribution to health guidance.

The conference, held in Manchester on 27 March, brought together frontline staff and leaders from health and care across the UK with the life sciences, health tech and digital sectors, to explore how NICE continues to transform to meet the rapidly changing needs of the system.

As part of the “Driving creative solutions in health technology assessment” session, Dr Champion spoke about the newly launched medicines access processes in Wales, which were developed by the All Wales Therapeutics and Toxicology Centre (AWTTC) on behalf of the All Wales Medicines Strategy Group (AWMSG). Both NICE and AWMSG have had to adapt their processes to keep pace with the rapidly changing healthcare landscape to deliver the best care to people. These organisations have a shared interest in the drive to improve patient access to medicines by promoting the best use of medicines and developing timely, independent, and authoritative advice. Dr Champion also explained how AWTTC now collaborate on innovative HTA approaches across organisational boundaries both within the UK and internationally, and this collective cooperative methodology is already making a difference. 

Dr Champion said “I was delighted and honoured to be invited to speak at the NICE Conference. AWMSG and AWTTC have always enjoyed a close relationship with NICE with regards to the strategic planning, development, and delivery of advice in England and Wales. We try hard to avoid duplication or variance and aim to complement and support each other’s work.” 

Dr Champion also participated in a question-and-answer session with fellow speakers Jamie Elvidge, Senior Scientific Advisor at NICE and Philip Morgan, Health Outcome Director UK from GSK. Jeanette Kusel, NICE Programme Director, Methods, Research and Health Economics, chaired the session.