When deciding which treatments to approve for widespread use within the NHS, NICE will consider the cost of a treatment as well as its effectiveness. The cost of providing ECP treatment is significant, and substantially greater than the current cost of looking after a lung transplant recipient.  However, if ECP is effective at halting CLAD progression, then it will mean greater health and quality of life for longer for lung transplant recipients. This in turn will reduce their use of NHS resources and the demand for lung re-transplantation which is very expensive.

Therefore, as part of the project we are also conducting a health economic study to understand the impact of ECP on NHS resource utilisation and whether ECP for the treatment of CLAD offers not just health benefits for patients but wider benefits for the NHS. 

This part of the study is being funded by Therakos.