OBJECTIVES

: Since 2013, the French Ministry of Health (MoH) is providing funding for project-based research in the field of health economics (HE) through the PRME program. Each year, a call for proposals is organized to invite researchers from both public and private healthcare institutions to submit their projects. The selection process includes notably an examination of protocol relevance in compliance with methodological standards defined by the French HTA body (HAS) by an independent scientific committee (no predefined quota). The selected projects receive a funding granted according a 5-stage process tailored to the study progress.This analysis aims to provide an overview of the PRME program over the 2013-2017 period by looking at the evolution of the selection rate and describe the characteristics of the funded projects (location, type of promoting healthcare institutions, therapeutic areas, stage of progress, etc.).

METHODS

: Over the 2013-2017 period, we looked at the number and characteristics of all selected projects and the forecasted requested budgets.

RESULTS

: From 2013 to 2017, 53 HE studies were sponsored by the MoH which represent 37% of the submitted projects for a total forecasted budget of € 56.1 million among which € 18.2 million (32%) were paid through the 5-stage funding process. No project received the 5^th tranche of funding corresponding to the transmission of the princeps article. Geographically, 21% of selected projects are promoted by healthcare institutions located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. The 53 projects were mainly promoted by teaching hospitals (79%) and French Comprehensive Cancer Centers (13%). Overall, 26% of projects (14/53) are related to cancer.

CONCLUSIONS

: In a context where HE importance is growing, the PRME program is a way to promote research with an average of 10 projects selected for funding per year since 2013.