OBJECTIVES: Preference information can assess the relative importance of treatment benefits and risks as experienced by patients. Growing interest in patient preference (PP) has arisen from payers and HTA bodies. This study aimed at identifying PP methods and data submitted within HTA reports.

METHODS: The HTA Accelerator™ (HTAA) is a proprietary IQVIA platform that summarizes product submissions information submitted to HTA bodies. HTA submission reports were searched using PP methods-related terms (e.g. “Vignette”, “Discrete-Choice Experiment”, “Time trade-off”). Search terms used were chosen to be comprehensive enough to represent PP studies whilst generating a manageable number of dossiers to be reviewed. The search was restricted to dossiers submitted for oncology drugs since June 2012 to the following HTA bodies: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC), Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC), and Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH).

RESULTS: A total of 116 HTA submission reports were identified by our search strategy. reports (7%) included data from PP studies: a Vignette study (n=1), a Standard Gamble study (n=1), Time Trade-Off studies (n=3), and others (n=4) and were submitted to NICE (n=5), PBAC (n=3) and CADTH (n=1). One report with PP information had been submitted per year in 2013, 2014, and 2016, and had increased to 3 reports in 2017 and 2019.

CONCLUSIONS: PP information has been submitted using various methods within HTA reports in oncology, but their use is still sparse. There is a small but growing trend in manufacturers providing PP studies as part of HTA submissions in oncology, which is consistent with increasing interest in PP from HTA agencies in general. We suspect this trend to continue as scientific organizations provide PP studies guidance/recommendations, HTA gain experience in reviewing PP information and manufacturers generate more PP information.