Pharmaceutical executives worldwide should keep a close eye on the deliberations of the UK's National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), delegates to a Management Forum meeting - 'Economic Methods for NICE Submissions' [London, England; July 2000] - heard recently. Indeed, a leading health economist warned that, for good or ill, NICE's decisions could influence pricing, reimbursement, and treatment guidelines in many other countries, and have commercial and strategic implications for the worldwide drug development programme. And almost every new technology could qualify for NICE assessment.