OBJECTIVES: The cancer burden in Brazil is rising, exerting significant strain on population health and the national health system (SUS), where there is increasing pressure for the incorporation of new technologies. This study aimed at characterizing the National Committee for Incorporation of Technologies (CONITEC) reports and recommendations between January/2012 and December/2018.

METHODS: This is an exploratory-descriptive study based on reports, ministerial orders, and public consultations extracted from CONITEC´s official website, restricted to requests related to oncology. Recommendations were classified according decision year, clinical condition, origin of request, and final recommendation. The presence of public consultation was examined and the scientific evidence supporting the recommendation was analyzed

RESULTS: A total of 47 recommendations related to oncology were issued during the study period, being 60% for medicines and 36,2% for procedures. The years of 2013 and 2018 concentrated half of the requests for medicines and 54% of submissions received a favorable recommendation. Breast cancer, non-Hodgkin´s lymphoma and colon/rectal cancer were the main clinical conditions covered. Most requests were external, mainly from the pharmaceutical industry and medical societies. Public consultation was performed in most cases, with a change in the initial recommendation occurring in less than 20% of the cases. The main rationale for a favorable recommendation was the presence of additional clinical benefit and the possibility of reduction in budgetary impact through price negotiation and reduction and technology transference. For unfavorable recommendations, there main rationale was absence of significant clinical benefit when comparing to available alternatives, inconclusive evidence of efficacy and high budgetary impact.

CONCLUSIONS: The recommendation of incorporation of new medicines in oncology was small, considering the increase in cancer prevalence and requests for the incorporation of new technologies from a field characterized by continuous innovation.