ISPOR 11th Annual International Meeting: Returning to Where it All Began!

The ISPOR 11th Annual International Meeting was held on May 20-24, 2006 at the Marriott Philadelphia, PA, USA. As some of you may know, Philadelphia was the site of our first International Meeting (when we were known as APOR) back in 1996. This year, over 1,400 attended the Meeting. Thanks go to Joanna Siegel, ScD, RN, of the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality, in Rockville, MD, USA, who was the Meeting chair and organized a top rate program for meeting attendees. The following are Meeting highlights.

Plenary Session “Balancing Affordability And Value: The Universal Challenge In Health Care Delivery,” was moderated by J. Sanford Schwartz MD, Professor of Medicine, Health Care Management, and Economics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA, and featured speaker Leonard Schaeffer, Founding Chairman & CEO, WellPoint Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA, USA. Dr. Schaeffer argued that the cost of medical innovation could overwhelm public and private payers, pressure to reduce costs will intensify and require payment limits, and pharmaceutical companies must demonstrate value to all payers, both preand post FDA approval. Marc Berger MD, Vice President, Outcomes Research & Management, Merck & Company, Inc. West Point, PA, USA responded to Leonard Schaffer’s issues and raised concerns of his own. "I would like to challenge Dr. Berger on his call for greater transparency of the Medicare coverage decision making process," said plenary session attendee Penny Mohr MA, Health Economist, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Baltimore, MD, USA. "The agency has been trying for decades to publish explicit criteria for defining 'reasonable and necessary, and we have been thwarted every step of the way by industry." Tuesday's Plenary Session, “Comparative Effectiveness & Health Care Decision-Making,” with Harvey V. Fineberg MD, PhD, President & Chair, Institute of Medicine, Washington, DC, USA, who presented his views on the culture of medicine, where there should be professionalism, from both the quality and efficiency standpoints, from autonomy to responsibility and from individual patient to all patients towards improved health care. The session also included speaker Michael O'Grady PhD, former Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Washington DC, USA and moderated by Joseph DiCesare MPH, RPh, Head, Health Economics & Outcomes Research, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, East Hanover, NJ, USA.
		Will The QALY Survive? Issue Panel Above: Daniel Kahneman PhD; Michael Drummond PhD, moderator (r) Top: Michael Drummond PhD, moderator (l); Alistair McGuire PhD; and Dennis Fryback, PhD)

Wednesday’s Plenary Session was “The Patient Voice In Medical Product Evaluation: FDA Draft Guidance On Measuring Patient-Reported Outcomes”. Laurie Burke MPH, RPh, Director, Study Endpoints and Label Dev., Office of New Drugs, CDER, FDA, Silver Spring, MD, USA, provided an overview of the draft guidance focusing on the most critical areas for continued discussion amongst measurement scientists who work with the pharmaceutical industry to prepare FDA submissions to support medical product approval. Margaret Rothman PhD, Executive Director, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research, Raritan, NJ, USA, presented the industry perspective, Patrick Marquis, MBA, MD, Managing Director, Mapi Values, Boston, MA, USA, Chair of the ISPOR Patient-Reported Outcomes/Quality-of-Life Information in Regulatory & Health Care Decisions Working Group of the Patient- Reported Outcomes SIG presented comments on the FDA guidance from ISPOR members, and Nancy Kline Leidy PhD, President, Health Care Analytics Group, United BioSource Corporation, Bethesda, MD, USA, concluded with a prototype example of how patient-reported outcome instruments development can be accomplished efficiently using a consortium approach. Donald Patrick PhD, MSPH, Professor, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA, moderated the session.

“It was a real honor and sincere pleasure to be on the podium with this panel of experts,” said Third Plenary Speaker Laurie Burke MPH, RPh. “The experience and perspective of this group was remarkable. I am encouraged with the quality and thoughtfulness of their comments that will guide the crafting of the final document.” Another stimulating program at the 11th Annual Meeting was the Issues Panel, “Will the QALY Survive?” with panelists Daniel Kahneman PhD, Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology; Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, Princeton, Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, Princeton, NJ, USA who debated this issue with Dennis Fryback, PhD Professor of Population Health Sciences and Industrial Engineering, Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin, USA; and Alistair McGuire PhD, Professor in Health Economics, London School of Economics, London, UK. The session was moderated by Michael Drummond PhD, Professor of Health Economics, University of York, Centre for Health Economics, Heslington, York, UK.

11th Annual International Meeting Poster Session Viewing

“This panel session developed into a lively debate about the strengths and weaknesses of the QALY,” said Michael Drummond. “Professor Kahneman felt quite strongly that efforts should be made to improve individuals' responses to questions about their preferences. The other speakers felt that, despite its limitations, the QALY was capable of doing the job that we were asking it to do. All three speakers felt that the QALY would survive, given the lack of suitable alternatives and the inescapable need to make health care resource allocation decisions'.”

“Another incredibly smooth, extremely well run meeting,” said Bryan Luce PhD, MBA, Senior Vice President, Science Policy, United BioSource Corporation, Bethesda, MS, USA. “(The ISPOR) staff was extremely professional, were everywhere seemingly always, always cheerful, and seemingly undaunted by anything.”

ISPOR will meet next at the 9th Annual European Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark at the Radisson SAS Falconer Hotel and Conference Center, in October 28-31, 2006. Thanks for stopping by the City of Brotherly Love and well see you in Copenhagen!

  Issues Index | 2006 Issues Index