{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,16]],"date-time":"2026-07-16T05:10:02Z","timestamp":1784178602013,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":105,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,1]],"date-time":"2025-01-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1735689600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Sociology Health &amp;amp; Illness"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title><jats:p>The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) was established a quarter of a century ago in 1999 to regulate the cost\u2010effectiveness of pharmaceuticals (and other health technologies) for the NHS. Drawing on medical sociology theories of corporate bias, neoliberalism, pluralism\/polycentricity and regulatory capture, the purpose of this article is to examine the applicability of those theories to NICE as a key regulatory agency in the UK health system. Based on approximately 7\u00a0years of documentary research, interviews with expert informants and observations of NICE\u2010related meetings, this paper focuses particularly on NICE's relationship with the interests of the pharmaceutical industry compared with other stakeholder interests at the meso\u2010organisational level. Consideration of the interaction between the UK Government and the pharmaceutical industry in relation to NICE is presented together with the analysis of revolving doors and conflicts of interest of NICE experts\/advisors. The nature of policy changes over time (e.g. accelerated assessment pathways and industry fees for regulatory appraisals) and how they relate to the relevant stakeholder interests is also investigated. It is concluded that NICE is largely characterised by neoliberal corporate bias, though some elements of its organisation are also consistent with theories of capture, pluralism and polycentricity.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1111\/1467-9566.13878","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,2]],"date-time":"2025-01-02T05:33:42Z","timestamp":1735796022000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["The Political Sociology of NICE: Investigating Pharmaceutical Cost\u2010Effectiveness Regulation in the UK"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"47","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0643-0274","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"John","family":"Abraham","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Education Brighton and Sussex Universities Medical School (BSMS)  Brighton UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0006-5783-1472","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gowree","family":"Balendran","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Global Health and Social Medicine King's College London  London UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_17_2_1","article-title":"Professor Appointed Chief Scientific Officer at ABPI","author":"ABPI News","year":"2018","journal-title":"Press Office"},{"key":"e_1_2_17_3_1","volume-title":"Science, Politics and the Pharmaceutical Industry","author":"Abraham J.","year":"1995"},{"key":"e_1_2_17_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1215\/03616878\u20102009\u2010032"},{"key":"e_1_2_17_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.socscimed.2020.113005"},{"key":"e_1_2_17_6_1","volume-title":"Regulating Medicines in Europe: Competition, Expertise and Public Health","author":"Abraham J.","year":"2000"},{"key":"e_1_2_17_7_1","volume-title":"The Therapeutic Nightmare: The Battle over the World's Most Controversial Sleeping Pill","author":"Abraham J.","year":"1999"},{"key":"e_1_2_17_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/s0140\u20106736(99)00181\u20106"},{"key":"e_1_2_17_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1524\u20104733.2008.00441.x"},{"key":"e_1_2_17_10_1","volume-title":"Toward a Critical Theory of States","author":"Barrow C. 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