Icosapent Ethyl: where the agencies disagree
This page collects every recorded health technology assessment decision for one molecule across the agencies in our archive, and compares them. The comparison is the point: each agency publishes its own verdict, none publishes how that verdict sits against the others.
What the record shows
NICE (England), SMC (Scotland) and TLV (Sweden) recommended or restricted icosapent ethyl, while AIFA (Italy) did not recommend it.
Where icosapent ethyl met resistance it was usually narrowed rather than refused: 3 of 6 decisive outcomes were recommendations with restrictions, against 2 outright refusals.
The record spans 3.2 years, opening at AWMSG (Wales) on 20 Apr 2021 and running to 2024.
PBAC (Australia) changed its position: not recommended in 2023, recommended by 2024, after a resubmission.
No assessment is on file from HAS (France), PHARMAC (New Zealand) and CIPM (Spain), each among the eight highest-volume agencies here.
The file is active: 4 of 8 records date from 2023 or later.
4 distinct indication wordings are recorded for icosapent ethyl by the agencies that label one in English (AWMSG, NICE, PBAC and SMC).
2 of these 8 records carry a year of decision but no day, so any interval quoted here is approximate to within a year.
AWMSG (Wales) was first to assess icosapent ethyl, on 20 Apr 2021; AIFA (Italy) did not open a file until 7 Aug 2023 — a moderate spread of 2.3 years between the earliest and latest system to look at it.
Restriction is doing real work here: 3 of 6 decisive outcomes narrowed icosapent ethyl to a subgroup rather than accepting or refusing it outright, at NICE (England), SMC (Scotland) and TLV (Sweden).
PBAC (Australia) is the only agency to have returned to icosapent ethyl, recording 2 separate entries.
7 of the 18 agencies in this archive hold a record for icosapent ethyl.
The full ledger for icosapent ethyl reads 3 restricted, 2 not recommended, 1 recommended and 1 deferred to NICE, with 1 in other categories.
Decisions on file
| Agency | Date | Indication as recorded | Outcome | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PBAC (Australia) | 2024 | Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease with elevated triglycerides | Recommended | source |
| SMC (Scotland) | 7 Aug 2023 | To reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in adult statin-treated patients at high cardiovascular risk with elevated triglycerides (≥150 mg/dL) and • established cardio… | accepted (restricted) | source |
| AIFA (Italy) | 7 Aug 2023 | trattamento di pazienti di età 18-80 anni con malattia cardiovascolare accertata e BMI ≥27 kg/m2, in trattamento con sta… | not reimbursed (class C) | source |
| NICE (England) | 13 Jul 2022 | NICE TA805 | recommended (optimised) | source |
| G-BA (Germany) | 5 May 2022 | Vazkepa — benefit assessment §35a | added benefit: not proven | source |
3 further decisions for icosapent ethyl, across 3 agencies, are not shown here. They link to 2 further source documents.
Related molecules
- evolocumab — divergent outcome (restricted vs recommended) on a shared indication
- alirocumab — same ATC class C10A — Lipid modifying agents
- rosuvastatin — same ATC class C10A — Lipid modifying agents
- inclisiran — same ATC class C10A — Lipid modifying agents
- evinacumab — same ATC class C10A — Lipid modifying agents
- ezetimibe — same ATC class C10A — Lipid modifying agents
Coverage: 8 decisions for icosapent ethyl from 7 agencies, 2021 to 2024. Data to 7 Sep 2026. ATC class C10A — Lipid modifying agents. How this page is produced. Compiled by Altima Partners; queries: sales@altimapartners.co.uk.