Sir Andrew Dillon, (born 9 May 1954) is a British executive, who was chief executive of the
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care (United Kingdom), Department of Health and Social Care.
As the national health technolog ...
(NICE) from 1999 to 2020. His earlier career was spent as an administrator and manager in the
National Health Service
The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
, England. He was educated at
St Ambrose College
St Ambrose College is an 11–18 Christian Brothers' Roman Catholic boys' grammar school in Hale Barns, Altrincham, Greater Manchester, England. It was founded in 1946 by Joseph Robertson. In 2012 the school became an academy, and was complete ...
, an all-boys
grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...
in Hale Barns, Cheshire, and at North Cheshire College of Further Education. He studied at the
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...
, graduating with a
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...
(BSc) degree.
Career
Dillon joined the
National Health Service
The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...
(NHS) after graduating from university. He was a general manager of the
Royal Free Hospital
The Royal Free Hospital (also known as the Royal Free) is a major teaching hospital in the Hampstead area of the London Borough of Camden. The hospital is part of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, which also runs services at Barnet Ho ...
NICE
Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million
In September 2013 he wrote an open letter to
The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
in which he said companies should be sure that all expenses spent on research were necessary in order justify the high prices demanded for new products assessed by health technology assessment (HTA) bodies such as NICE: "If it really does cost £1.2bn to develop a new drug, the question the
pharmaceutical industry
The pharmaceutical industry is a medical industry that discovers, develops, produces, and markets pharmaceutical goods such as medications and medical devices. Medications are then administered to (or self-administered by) patients for curing ...
must be able to answer is this: are you absolutely confident that it needs to?".
He was said by the
Health Service Journal
''Health Service Journal'' (''HSJ'') is a news service that covers policy and management in the National Health Service (NHS) in England.
History
The '' Poor Law Officers' Journal'' was established in 1892. In 1930, it changed its name after ...
to be the 34th most powerful person in the English NHS in December 2013. and among The 25 most influential people in biopharma today. As of 2015, Dillon was paid a salary of between £185,000 and £189,999 by NICE, making him one of the 328 most highly paid people in the British public sector at that time.
Personal life
Dillon is married to Alison Goodbrand and they have two daughters.
In 2015, Dillon was elected a
Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences
Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) is an award for medical scientists who are judged by the UK Academy of Medical Sciences for the "excellence of their science, their contribution to medicine and society and the range of the ...