The 7th Annual Conference of the ISPOR Italy Rome Chapter was successfully held in Rome, December 13-14, 2021 with more than 100 in-presence participants from national and regional authorities, health care organizations, academic institutions, consulting agencies and scientific departments of manufacturers.
The Conference was endorsed by AIES (Italian Association of Health Economists), CEIS (Centre for Economic Studies, Tor Vergata), EUPATI (Expert Patient Academia), SiHTA (Italian HTA Society) and UPO (Piemonte Orientale University) and attracted a number of experts and governmental officials, including Dr. Annalisa Campomori, Member of the AIFA Price and Reimbursement Committee, Director of Pharmacy, Provincial Agency for Health Services of the Autonomous Province of Trento; Prof. Armando Genazzani, EMA-CHMP Member, Director of Drug Department, Piemonte Orientale University; Dr. Giovanni Polimeni, AIFA Director; Dr. Pierluigi Russo, Director of the AIFA Office for Economic Evaluations and Office for Monitoring Registers; Dr. Giovanna Scroccaro, President of the AIFA Price and Reimbursement Committee, Director Drug-Devices Department, Veneto Region.
The conference was held as a plenary meeting, articulated over 5 sessions, each of them structured around lectures, discussions and a final round-table. In addition, a Podium Presentations’ session was aimed at presenting and discussing a selection of the most interesting and relevant abstracts submitted by Chapter members. The Conference was also an opportunity to discuss with a representative of the ISPOR Italy Milan Chapter, Prof Paolo Cortesi from CESP Center for Study and Research on Public Health, University of Milan-Bicocca, the opportunity and potential way forward for a reunification of the two Italian Chapters of ISPOR.
At the opening ceremony, Prof. Pier Luigi Canonico, President of ISPOR Italy Rome Chapter, welcomed participants and introduced the Sessions.
- Session I, moderated by Dr. Patrizia Berto, ISPOR Rome Chapter Director, was aimed at presenting and discussing one major achievement of ISPOR Rome Chapter during 2021, the publication of a document entitled “The role of economic evaluations in regulatory processes of price and reimbursement of pharmaceuticals”. The document was produced by a group of ISPOR Members coordinated by Prof Andrea Marcellusi, ISPOR Rome Chapter Secretary and President elect, and supported by a Steering Committee composed of representatives from government institutions, academia, consulting agencies and manufacturers. Three of the young ISPOR members who contributed to the document (Carolina Moreno, Sara Mucherino, Alberto Bortolami) together with Prof Marcellusi, described the contents and a group of experts discussed the findings and the conclusions in the following highly participated round table.
- Session II was moderated by Dr Fulvio Luccini, ISPOR Rome Chapter Director, and was focused on the practical use and application of economic evaluations “between obligation and belief”, particularly within the pharmaceutical industry, but also within some regional institutions.
- Session III was moderated by Prof Francesco Saverio Mennini, SiHTA President and ISPOR Italy Rome Chapter Past-President, and was focused on the application of health-economics to medical devices, as seen in the frame of the PNRR, National Recovery and Resilience Plan.
- Following the special session on Podium Presentations, Session VI was focused on Digital Therapies and was introduced and moderated by Dr Giuseppe Recchia, daVinci Digital Therapeutics co-founder and CEO, with discussants from institutions (Dr. Giovanna Scroccaro, AIFA), industry (Dr. Domenico Valle, Lilly) and academia (Prof. Americo Cicchetti, ALTEMS).
- Session V was moderated by Prof. Pier Luigi Canonico and was aimed at presenting local regional experiences of patient pathways optimization, particularly in the areas of oncology (Prof. Gianni Amunni, ISPRO, Firenze) and multiple sclerosis (Dr. Claudio Gasperini, San Camillo Hospital, Roma).
At the end of the Conference’ sessions, recipients of the Research Presentation Podium and Poster Awards were communicated: Dr. Adrian Hegenbarth for best Podium presentation of “Pricing and reimbursement strategies for multi-indication drugs and their applicability in the Italian context” and Dr. Claudia Nardone for best Poster presentation of “Breast cancer, estimate of its socio-economic burden in Italy”.
At the end of the Conference’ sessions, the ISPOR Rome Chapter General Assembly was held to inform all members of the achievements of the Association during 2021: the new Leadership and Board of Directors, new sponsorships (7 sponsors; 2 premium sponsors), free-membership for members under 30 years of age, enlarged membership with 247 members in total (of which 62 new members), new initiatives and programs and the institution of GIRF (Gruppo ISPOR Roma For Future) an association of under-30 members, which will hold its first Conference in Naples, April 2022.