ISPOR 2nd Latin America Conference – Uniting Research and Policy to Improve Health Care in Latin America

After the success of the inaugural ISPOR Latin America  Conference  in  Cartagena,  Colombia in September of 2007, ISPOR returned to the region for the ISPOR 2nd Latin America Conference from 10-12 September 2009 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

With a 100% increase in abstract submission and nearly double the attendance from 2007, the ISPOR 2nd Latin America Conference was a huge success, reflecting the growing interest in phar-macoeconomics and outcomes research in the re-gion, as well as the need for continued education and implementation. The theme for this confer-ence was: Uniting Research and Policy to Improve Health Care in Latin America. Marcos B. FerrazMD, PhD, Professor and Director, São Paulo Cen-ter for Health Economics, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, and Gabriela Tannus Araújo MSc, MBA, Health Economics Director, AxiaBio Consulting, & Economist in Charge of the Clinical Trials Office, UNIFESP/ SPDM, São Paulo, Brazil were the co-chairs of this conference and oversaw a stimulating and thought-provoking program for the attendees.

Thursday, 10 September 2009
The Conference began with eight well-attended pre-conference Short Courses on topics such as model-ing, quality of life and transferability of data to the Latin America context. All courses were taught or co-instructed by leading experts in the region, and were provided in Portuguese, Spanish and English. The Short Courses were followed by the first of five Educational Symposia “Models for Reimbursement for Oncology Prod-ucts in Latin American Countries: The Perspective of Brazil, Colombia, And Mexico,” sponsored by Pfizer.

Following the symposium, the ISPOR Brazil Chap-ter hosted an important Special Session titled, “Advances in the Process of Health Technology Assessment in Brazil: Brazilian Network of Tech-nology Assessment (REBRATS)”. This session, featuring speakers from within the Brazilian Minis-try of Health Department of Science and Technol-ogy (DECIT), the University of Rio Grande do Sul and the Federal University of São Paulo, discussed the MOH’s new arm dedicated to the promotion and development of HTA in Brazil.

Applied Modeling Short Course
The day ended with a Welcome Reception pool-side where attendees sipped “caipirinhas” (the local drink) and mingled while overlooking Rio’s beautiful coast!

Friday, 11 September 2009
The second day of the Conference began on Friday with a Welcome Address from Michael Barry MD, PhD, FRCPI, 2009–2010 ISPOR Presi-dent & Clinical Director, National Centre for Phar-macoeconomics, St. James’s Hospital & Senior Lecturer in Clinical Pharmacology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland, and Opening Remarks from Marcos B. Ferraz MD, PhD.

The Welcome and Opening Address were followed by the first Conference Plenary Session, “Imple-menting Pharmacoeconomic Guidelines in Evi-dence-based Decision Making in Latin America: Lessons Learned?”. This session was moderated by Michael Drummond MCom, DPhil, Professor of Health Economics, Centre for Health Econom-ics, University of York, York, UK, and presented the development and implementation of PE guidelines including issues and barriers for three groups: countries currently implementing PE guidelines in drug reimbursement decisions; countries that are developing guidelines; and countries that are con-sidering the development of PE guidelines. Speak-ers representing nine countries were grouped into these three panels based on their country’s rate of adoption and/or implementation of PE guidelines.

The first panel, “When to Consider the Develop-ment of PE Guidelines,” featured panelists Gabriel Carrasquilla G. MD, MSc, DrPH, Director, Center for Health Care Research Studies (CEIS), Santa Fe de Bogotá Foundation, Bogotá, Colombia; Pa-mela de la Rosa MBA, Committee Leader for the Development of Pharmacoeconomics Guidelines, Medications Accessibility Program, Ministry of Health, Guatemala, Guatemala; Alarico Rodri-guez de León MD, Medical Benefits Manager, Uruguayan National Agency for Highly Special-ized Medical Procedures, Montevideo, Uruguay;

Marino J. González R. PhD, MSc, MD, Professor of Public Policy and Health Policy, Unit of Public Policy, Simon Bolivar University, Caracas, Venezu-ela; and lead panelist, Federico Augustovski MD, MSc, Director, Health Economic Evaluation and Technology Assessment, IECS (Institute for Clini-cal Effectiveness and Health Policy) & Staff Phy-sician, Family and Community Medicine Division, Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina, presenting the commonalities shared across five country health systems relating to bar-riers in implementation of PE guidelines in these countries.

The second panel, “Issues to Consider in the Development of PE Guidelines,” featured panel-ist Emilio Santelices Cuevas MBA, MD, Direc-tor of Medical Management, Clínica las Condes, Providencia, Santiago, Chile, and lead panelist, Guillermo Melendez MD, MSc, Consultant, Mexican Health Foundation, Mexico City, Mexico, pre-senting ‘pro’s’ and ‘cons’ to the implementation of PE guidelines in Chile and Mexico.

The final panel, “Issues to Consider in the Imple-mentation of PE Guidelines,” featured Alexan-dre Lemgruber MSc, Head, Office of Economic Evaluation of New Technologies, Brazilian National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA), Brasilia, Brazil and focused primarily on the Brazilian expe-rience regarding the country’s recent implementa-tion of pharmacoeconomic guidelines. The session also included a Respondents’ Discussion featuring David Bruhn PharmD, MBA, Outcomes Research Scientist, Lilly, San Diego, CA, USA, Joaquin Fed-erico Mould Quevedo PhD, MBA, MSc, Outcomes Research Manager, Pfizer SA de CV, Mexico City, Mexico, and Wilson Follador PhD, PharmD, MSc, Market Access and Health Economics Manager Sanofi-Aventis Farmaceutica Brazil São Paulo, Brazil, as well as an audience Q&A session. Respondents and audience members alike had the opportunity to pose crucial questions to country panelists regarding the issues surrounding the implementation process.

Research Podium Sessions I and II were held that day, along with Workshop Session I, the Issue Panels session, and Poster Session Viewing and Exhibits. The day also included two Educational Symposia: “Using Health Economics and Out-comes Research For Health Care Decision Making – The Case Of Latin America,” sponsored by IMS, and “Learnings And Application To Health Tech-nology Assessment In Latin America – Structural Components, Operational Issues, And Technical Considerations,” sponsored by Lilly. Friday also featured a highly attended evening Poster Author Reception hour, where authors had the chance to discuss their research at length with interested at-tendees.

Saturday, 12 September 2009
The  final  day  of  the  Conference  began  with  the Educational Symposium, “Value of Vaccination: Time to Wake-Up!” sponsored by Sanofi-Pasteur, followed by the Second Plenary Session, “Is Equity of Access to Health Care in Latin America Achievable?,” where speakers from Argentina.

Brazil, Colombia and Mexico each described the current situation concerning inequity in access to drugs and presented programs and/or solutions to those inequities, which are or could be imple-mented in their respective countries. Speakers in-cluded Joaquín E. Caporale MSc, Health Econo-mist, Institute for Clinical Effectiveness and Health Policy (IECS) & National University of La Plata (UNLP), Buenos Aires, Argentina; Antonio Caso MD, Med, Post Graduate Professor and Distance Learning Coordinator, Post Graduate Division, Faculty of Medicine, National University of Mexico, Mexico D.F, Mexico; Diana Pinto MD, MHA, DSc,

Associate Professor, Department of Clinical Epi-demiology and Biostatistics, School of Medicine, Javeriana University & Research Associate, Fedesarrollo, Bogotá, Colombia; and Stephen Stefani MD, Medical Auditor, Head of Oncology Unit & Professor, UNIMED, Porto Alegre, Brazil. Respon-dent Lou Garrison PhD, Professor and Associate Director, Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research and Policy Program, Department of Pharmacy, Univer-sity of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA, challenged the presenters with specific issues to address when developing solutions to these inequities. The session was moderated by Gabriela Tannus Araújo MSc, MBA.

Podium Session III followed the Plenary Session, along with the final four Workshops. The day con-cluded with the highly attended Research Presen-tation Awards and Conference Closing Remarks, with the enthusiastic participation of Awardees and audience members.The final Educational Symposium “Reimbursement Review Process Across Latin America,” sponsored by Millcreek Outcomes Group, LLC closed the Conference.

The success and growth of this conference will undoubtedly bring increased import to the next ISPOR Latin America Conference in Mexico in 2011! We look forward to continued growth and success in the region as we strive to meet the increasing demand for education and diffusion of information on pharmacoeconomics and out-comes research in Latin America. Obrigado, Rio de Janeiro! ¡Hasta México!

  Issues Index | 2009 Issues Index