Nice will determine the prices of branded medicines through full value assessments from next year, the Department of Health (DH) has announced.

The DH announced the expanded role for Nice in value-based pricing (VBP) yesterday, in response to a health select committee inquiry in January that called for the government to clarify its plans before April.

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	The government said the "crucial" role went further than its previous plans for Nice to conduct cost and benefit analyses for VBP, due to come into force in January 2014. But the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) said confirmation of Nice's role left fundamental questions about the planned pricing structure.

"What will determine whether VBP works for the pharmaceutical industry, the NHS and, most importantly, patients is not who does the assessment, but how it is done and what goes into it," argued ABPI chief executive Stephen Whitehead. "This has yet to be determined and we are working hard to secure a policy that will deliver for patients in the future."

Mr Whitehead added that any new structure must ensure a "brighter future" for UK patients and stop denying them access to medicines available in other countries.

Under the planned VBP system, Nice will conduct value assessments under a government-set framework, including weightings for determining a medicine's value, "for example, in treating a particularly severe condition, or reducing a patient's care needs".

Some issues would be determined by negotiation between the DH and the pharmaceutical industry, such as where the value assessment does not support the proposed list price.

The government set out plans to introduce value-based pricing in 2010, in an effort to link payment for new medicines more closely to their value to patients and society.