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By signing on December 9 in London, the strategic partnership between Conitec and NICE allows Brazil to share methods, artificial intelligence, and price negotiation models to incorporate health technologies more safely, transparently, and with better budget protection for SUS patients throughout the country.
This Tuesday, December 9, in London, Brazil formalized a strategic agreement with the United Kingdom that connects the National Commission for the Incorporation of Technologies in SUS (Conitec) to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to enhance decisions regarding new health technologies. The document aims to reduce risks for patients and public finances by supporting more careful decisions about expensive and complex treatments.
The agreement stems from a letter of intent signed between the two countries in October 2025, recognizing Brazil and the United Kingdom as strategic partners in public health. From this milestone, cooperation expands to the evaluation of health technologies, negotiation of prices for innovative treatments, use of artificial intelligence, and strengthening the technical capacities of the Unified Health System.
Partnership Aims for Safer and Sustainable Decisions in SUS
The cooperation between Conitec and NICE seeks to create guidelines and processes for a national program for health technology assessment, known as HTA.
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The objective is to systematically qualify decisions about which medications, equipment, and procedures will be incorporated into SUS, always based on scientific evidence and the economic impact on the public system.
The agreement reinforces the federal government’s commitment to the responsible incorporation of technologies and to strengthening Brazil’s technical and institutional capacities to face future public health challenges.
In a scenario of increasingly complex and expensive technologies, health technology assessment becomes central to guiding the State on what truly provides clinical benefit and is worth the investment.
Price Negotiation and Budget Protection
Inspired by the British experience, Brazil aims to improve access models for innovative treatments, focusing on high-cost medications.
The partnership paves the way for negotiating prices based on results, evidence, and stricter economic criteria, reducing the likelihood of paying a high price for technologies with uncertain efficacy.
According to the Ministry of Health, learning from the strategies of the United Kingdom should help shield patients and public finances against ineffective and overpriced treatments.
The idea is for SUS to have more bargaining power with the industry, ensuring access to innovation, but with sustainable costs for the health budget.
Artificial Intelligence in the Assessment of Expensive Drugs
One of the central points of the agreement is the integration of artificial intelligence tools in health technology assessment processes.
Technical training actions, missions, and workshops are planned to teach Brazilian teams how to incorporate artificial intelligence systems into the daily analysis of scientific evidence and studies on expensive medications and new therapies.
With NICE’s support, Brazil intends to accelerate and increase the efficiency of the screening and data interpretation stage used by Conitec.
The expectation is that artificial intelligence will help better organize the available information, identify evidence gaps, and support quicker and more consistent recommendations about what should or should not be incorporated into SUS.
Transparency, Conflicts of Interest, and Social Trust
The partnership also provides for measures to enhance transparency and conflict of interest management in health technology assessment.
The intention is to refine rules, procedures, and governance structures, so that experts, representatives of society, and managers participate with greater clarity about their ties to the industry or other institutions.
By adopting international standards and strengthening control mechanisms, Brazil seeks to increase public trust in decisions regarding the incorporation of technologies in SUS.
The clearer the criteria used, the less room for doubts about undue influence from economic interests and the greater the legitimacy of decisions before patients, professionals, and managers.
Science, Innovation, and Approaching the British Ecosystem
In the field of science, technology, innovation, and digital health, the agreement opens the doors for Brazil to better understand the British ecosystem, including the relationship between research, regulation, and technology assessment.
The cooperation aims to utilize scientific production as an ally to shorten the path between studies, approval, and public access to new treatments.
In addition to technical missions and participation in committees, the partnership encourages discussions on how to organize research projects oriented to the needs of SUS.
And you, do you believe that this partnership between Brazil and the United Kingdom can truly help SUS provide more innovative treatments without increasing the risk of wasting public money?
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