Abstract

Objectives

To describe the process, challenges, and future direction of health technology assessment (HTA), focusing on the drug selection of the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) in Thailand.

Methods

Literature and government documents were reviewed and analyzed by authors with experiences in HTA and drug policy in the country.

Results

The structure of HTA and its process in the drug selection of the NLEM were described, followed by the outcomes of the use of HTA. Examples of lowering drug prices, as a result of price negotiation using HTA, were presented. A few examples were also provided to demonstrate how decisions were made from considering factors beyond cost-effectiveness findings. Finally, challenges on various issues including improvement of HTA structure and process were discussed for the future direction of HTA in Thailand.

Conclusions

HTA has been adopted as a tool for the drug selection of the NLEM to help Thailand achieve universal health coverage. Nevertheless, various challenges exist and need to be addressed.