ISPOR 6th Annual European Congress Planning Committee

Committee Dear Colleagues:
We are delighted to welcome you to Barcelona and this ISPOR 6th Annual European Congress. We have put together the programme under the title ‘Bringing the Gap Between Research & Policy’.
In order to go a step further in the relation between outcomes research and decision-making, we have planned 3 Plenary Sessions around hot topics that are nowadays driving the debate in Europe. The first Plenary Session is the utility of outcomes research in decentralised systems, according to the trend of decentralisation we are currently witnessing in some large European countries. The second Plenary Session focuses on the benefits and risks for the diversity of agents of direct to consumer information and advertisement. In light of the controversy opened at the European Parliament and Commission of the European Union, this session will address whether to first pilot with 3 diseases and then decide on the liberalisation of information from pharmaceutical companies to patients. The third Plenary Session is a classic that remains unsolved and aims at analysing the impact of outcomes research in real clinical practice.
Our moderators and speakers are recognised nationally and internationally as experts in their fields, which include the political and governmental decision-making perspective, the industry perspective, and the academic or research perspective.
On Sunday, we will have workshop presentations around methodology in pharmacoeconomics, outcomes research, patient reported outcomes and health policy, followed by the Exhibitors’ Open House Reception. Monday evening, we will have the traditional wine & cheese reception. Contributed workshop presentations will close this 6th Congress on Tuesday evening.
We would like to sincerely thank all the participants who have contributed with their presentations to the scientific quality of this congress. We have also appreciated the contribution of the members of the Planning Committee, the Research Review Committee and the Workshop Review Committee and Issues Panels. We would finally like to thank Marilyn Dix Smith and her ISPOR team as well as Marta Oliva for their commitment and support to the excellent organization of the meeting.
We hope that you will enjoy this Congress’s Program and discussions as well as the beautiful city of Barcelona during the ISPOR Sixth Annual European Congress.
Yours sincerely,

Xavier Badia, MD, PhD
Managing Director
Health Outcomes Research
Europe Group Barcelona, Spain Congress Co-Chair

Joan Rovira, PhD
Senior Health Economist
The World Bank
Washington, DC, USA
Congress Co-Chair