Sun Lihua, PhD, Professor of School of Business Administration, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang, China
Co-hosted by Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Pharmacoeconomics Professional Committee of Liaoning Pharmaceutical Association, and ISPOR Northeast China Chapter, co-organized by the School of Business Administration and the Institute of Pharmaceutical Regulatory Sciences of Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, the 9th Northern China Annual Pharmacoeconomics Forum was successfully held on 2-4 June in Shenyang. Nearly 500 people participated in this meeting including Yang Xiuyu, Director of the Drug Administration Division of Liaoning Provincial Health Commission, Liu Tong, Secretary-General of Liaoning Pharmaceutical Association, Cheng Yusheng, President of Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, leaders of the School of Business Administration, experts and scholars from home and abroad, as well as leaders and representatives of relevant administrative organizations, hospitals, universities, research institutions, and pharmaceutical enterprises from various provinces and cities in China.
The theme of this year’s forum is "New Development and New Thinking in Pharmacoeconomics". The forum featured 24 presentations given by over 60 well-known domestic and international experts, 4 roundtable discussions, and several closed-door roundtable discussions. The forum was sponsored by 11 pharmaceutical companies.
On the morning of June 3, the forum was opened by the forum chair Lihua Sun who is President of the ISPOR Northeast China Chapter, Chairman of the Pharmacoeconomics Professional Committee of Liaoning Pharmaceutical Association, and Professor of the School of Business Administration of Shenyang Pharmaceutical University. Professors Hu Shanlian, Yang Xiuyu, Liu Tong and Cheng Yusheng of Fudan University delivered welcome speeches.
The forum consisted of closed-door seminars on 2 June, a main forum on 3 June and two subforums on the last day. In the main forum on 3 June, Professor Sun Lihua gave a keynote presentation "Hot Topics, Key Issues, and Thoughts on China's Pharmacoeconomic Evaluation". Professor Wu Jing of Tianjin University presented "How to Consider Fairness in Optimizing Resource Allocation". Jin Chunlin, Director of Shanghai Health Development Research Center, delivered a talk titled "China's Innovative Drug Approval Policy and Payment Policy Trend". Professor Xuan Jianwei of Sun Yat-sen University presented "Innovative Payment Methods Supporting the Value of Innovative Drugs and Market Access”. Leng Jiahua, Director of Peking University Cancer Hospital, discussed about "Payment System Reform and New Trends in Hospital Medical Insurance Management", and Professor Chen Hao of Huazhong University of Science and Technology gave a report on "Dual-channel Policy and Thinking on Drugs from the Perspective of Three-Medical Linkage". The roundtable discussion was presided over by Professor Shi Luwen of Peking University and Professor Dong Hengjin of Zhejiang University. A number of experts and scholars from medical insurance management departments, pharmaceutical experts and medical insurance experts of medical institutions, and academia conducted in-depth discussions on hot issues of pharmaceutical economics at the theoretical and practical levels respectively.
On June 4, two subforums were held focusing topics on "New developments of Pharmacoeconomics Research" and "New Developments of Pharmacoeconomics Application". Relevant experts and scholars were invited to conduct all-round and multi-level academic exchanges and experience sharing on the two topics in the form of academic reports, and further discussions were carried out in the form of round-table discussions.
In the end, Dr. Huang Zhe and Dr. Tian Lijuan, Deputy Deans of the School of Business Administration of Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, summarized and concluded the sessions.
Since its inception, the Northern Pharmacoeconomics Forum has strived for its content to be continuously updated and its format continuously optimized. This year’s forum has made the following changes: 1) Increased the ratio of the time and the number of attendees in the roundtable discussions. The forum offered four roundtable discussions focusing on different topics, 2) Increased the ratio of senior expert speakers and moderators which gave more opportunities to moderators to share their experience and insights on multiple topics, 3) Invited young and middle-aged recipients of national nature funding projects to introduce their latest thinking and research, and 4) earmark more time on academic exchanges and discussions. The above new approaches have been well received by the forum participants.