BMJ-TAG: making meaningful contributions to patient care The BMJ Technology Assessment Group (BMJ-TAG) provides independent clinical and economic evidence reviews to support NICE appraisals of medicines and health technologies. Since 2011, it has contributed to NICE guidance on more than 100 new medicines.
Assessing AI for earlier bowel cancer detection Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are increasingly being used to support clinicians during colonoscopy by identifying bowel polyps that may develop into colorectal cancer. BMJ-TAG assessed the clinical and economic evidence for 10 AI-assisted polyp detection technologies. The review found that most increased polyp detection when used alongside clinician judgement and were likely to represent good value for the NHS, although evidence on longer term outcomes, including colorectal cancer incidence, remained limited. The assessment informed NICE's recommendation that six technologies should be introduced into the NHS while further evidence is generated, supporting the responsible adoption of AI in clinical practice. Improving access to the first licensed treatment for a rare disease BMJ-TAG also supported NICE's appraisal of idebenone (Raxone) for Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON), an ultra-rare inherited mitochondrial disease that causes rapid and severe vision loss, often in young adults. Until 2025, there were no medicines routinely available through the NHS for LHON. BMJ-TAG critically assessed the company's clinical and economic evidence, providing NICE with an independent assessment of the treatment's benefits and value for money. NICE recommended idebenone as the first licensed treatment routinely available through NHS England for people with LHON, bringing access into line with Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Since 2011, BMJ-TAG has contributed to NICE guidance on more than 100 new medicines.
England is now in line with the rest of the United Kingdom with idebenone now available through the NHS. This will come as a great relief to the LHON community in this country, bringing hope to those who have experienced significant visual loss from this mitochondrial genetic disorder.” Professor Patrick Yu-Wai-Man, NICE committee member and professor of ophthalmology, University of Cambridge, UK
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