The Advisory Group for National Specialised Services (AGNSS) is a committee that advises health Ministers on which services should be nationally commissioned and the centres that should provide them.
Two AGNSS reviews of drugs are currently underway; eculizumab (Soliris, Alixion) for aHUS and tafamidis (Vyndaqel, Pfizer) for familial amyloid polyneuropathy. The review group for the former is ScHARR-TAG within HEDS.
However, subject to the passage of the Health and Social Care Bill the new NHS Commissioning Board will take responsibility for the direct commissioning of certain services - including specialised services from April 2013. Therefore, in recognition of these changes AGNSS has agreed to hold a moratorium on applications for new services and on undertaking any new reviews of high cost low volume drugs or technologies.