Local formularies are to be published online from April 2013 and will be required to include Nice-approved drugs automatically, the Department of Health has said.

As part of rules coming into force from April 1, PCTs will be required to publish their local NHS formularies online as part of their NHS contract, preventing the blacklisting of Nice-approved drugs in order to make cost savings.

Last week, England's chief pharmaceutical officer Keith Ridge wrote to prescribing leads, encouraging them to review their formulary processes ahead of the changes.

"If you have not done so already, I would strongly encourage you to review your local formulary processes to begin implementation of the action," Mr Ridge said. He added he was "fully aware" that implementing the changes would "not be without its challenges" and suggested it was done in collaboration with emerging clinical commissioning groups.

Nice deputy chief executive Gillian Leng welcomed the new compliance rules as a means to "ensure there is no local evaluation of drugs that have been positively appraised by Nice". "Nice-approved drugs should not be excluded from local formularies on the grounds of cost," she said. "We want all patients to have access to medicines that we consider to be effective."