The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) is a Boston-based independent nonprofit organization that seeks to place a value on medical care by providing comprehensive clinical and cost-effectiveness analyses of treatments, tests, and procedures. It was founded in about 2005 by physician-researcher Steven D. Pearson, MD, MSc, FRCP. Until 2014 it concentrated on assessing health care costs (rather than evaluating drugs). It evaluates the cost effectiveness of drugs in a similar way to the UK's NICE, and has come under some criticism from the drug industry. ICER has placed a monetary value on a number of prescription drugs since 2014. Those evaluations have been used by insurers to justify which drugs are approved or denied. The institution is funded by Arnold Ventures LLC (formerly the Laura and John Arnold Foundation), drug makers, insurers, and government grants. (en)