Published Nov 9, 2015

SESSION COMPARES ENGLAND, GERMANY, AND FRANCE

 Milan, Italy—November 9, 2015—The International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) 18^th Annual European Congress Issue Panel 1 explored, “What Is the Role of Economic Evaluation in Pricing and Reimbursement of Medicines: A Comparison Between England, Germany, and France.” This issue panel was held this morning at the MiCo – Milano Congressi in Milan, Italy. The issue panel was moderated by Wim Goettsch, PhD, Advisor International Affairs, National Healthcare Institute (ZiN), Diemen, The Netherlands and panelists: - Meindert Boysen, PharmD, MSc, Programme Director, Centre for Health Technology Evaluation, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), Manchester, UK - Andreas Gerber-Grote, MD, PhD, Head of Health Economics, Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Healthcare (IQWiG), Cologne, Germany - Jean-Luc Harousseau, MD, PhD, President, French National Authority for Health (HAS), Saint-Denis La Plaine, France European governments are increasingly using economic evaluations as a factor in decision making regarding reimbursement of medicines by national health insurance organizations. It is not clear, however, how economic evaluations of medicines are used in reimbursement and price negotiation. The panelists discussed the pros and cons of the different perspectives on economic evaluation. The most comprehensive use of economics has been in England, where economic evaluation is fully integrated in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) appraisals and is guided by the existence of a cost-effectiveness threshold. In Germany, economic evaluation plays a somewhat minor role in the process of early benefit assessment that was established in January 2011. In France, since October 2013, the appraisal of medicines by Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS) (the French National Authority for Health) must include an economic evaluation for innovative products, which should assist the government in price negotiation. These different approaches raise questions about their impact on the outcome and timeliness of reimbursement decisions and pricing. Released presentations from the ISPOR 18^th Annual European Congress are available at http://www.ispor.org/Event/ReleasedPresentations/2015Milan. ISPOR’s 18^th Annual European Congress may be followed on social media using the hashtag #ISPORMilan.

###