Submitted by Patrizia Berto – ISPOR Italy Rome Chapter Director
The 9th Annual Conference of the ISPOR Italy Rome Chapter was successfully held in Rome, December 12-13, 2023, with about 200 in-person participants from national and regional authorities, health care organizations, academic institutions, consulting agencies and manufacturers of drugs and medical devices.
The Conference was endorsed by AIES (Italian Association of Health Economists), and UPO (Piemonte Orientale University). Many experts and governmental officials attending the meeting included Dr. Mauro Biffoni, Director of the Department of Oncology and Molecular Medicine, National Institute of Health (ISS) and member of AIFA Technical Scientific Commission (CTS); Dr. Fernanda Gellona, General Director Farmindustria (Italian Association of Pharmaceutical Industry) Dispositivi Medici; Dr. Antonio La Greca, Officer - AIFA Offices of Economic Evaluations and Monitoring Registers; Dr. Anna Maria Marata, Coordinator Drug Committee Emilia Romagna Region and AIFA CTS Member; Dr. Marco Marchetti, Director HTA Operational Unit AGENAS; Dr. Simona Montilla, Director – AIFA; Dr. Alexander Natz, Secretary General, EUCOPE; Dr. Teresa Petrangolini, Director Patient Advocacy Lab ALTEMS; Dr. Patrizia Popoli, President - AIFA CTS, Director National Centre for Research and Preclinical and Clinical Evaluation of Medicines, Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS); Dr. Chiara Roni, Head of Hospital Pharmacy, ASUGI; Dr. Paolo Schincariol, AIFA CTS Member; Dr. Annalisa Scopinaro, President UNIAMO; Dr. Giovanna Scroccaro, President - AIFA CPR, Director Drug & Devices Dept, Veneto Region; Dr. Francesco Trotta, Director - AIFA HTA and Economic Evaluations.
The conference was held as a plenary meeting articulated over 5 sessions, and each of them was structured around lectures, discussions, and roundtables. At the opening ceremony, Pier Luigi Canonico, President of ISPOR Italy Rome Chapter, welcomed participants and introduced the sessions. Andrea Marcellusi President - Elect, ISPOR Italy Rome Chapter, presented the ISPOR Italy Rome Chapter projects completed in the 3 years under the leadership of 2021-2023 Board of Directors.
The Session I, moderated by P. Berto (ISPOR Rome Director) and F. Caprari (ALEXION), was aimed at presenting the new ISPOR Report “Guidelines for Costing of Resources in Italian Economic Evaluations: A Proposal of the ISPOR Italy Rome Chapter”. This document was produced by a group of ISPOR members coordinated by P. Berto and supported by a steering committee composed of representatives from government institutions, academia, consulting agencies, and manufacturers. Three of the ISPOR members who contributed to the document (C. Moreno, S. Mucherino, C. Bini) together with the project coordinator, described the contents. Participation of F.S. Mennini from SiHTA, together with L. Fioravanti as a representative of the industry, E. Menditto and A. Marcellusi of academia, was appreciated by participants as it prompted a very interesting discussion on best practices for costing in economic analyses as a contribute to market access of pharmaceuticals. The full document can be accessed at https://www.isporitaly.org/index.php/documenti
The Session II was moderated by P.L. Canonico (ISPOR Rome President) and A. Pierini (ISPOR Rome Director) and focused on “Real World Data and Real World Evidence: from EU Theory to Regional Practice” with contributions from G. Fabiano (Oxford University), C. Galeone (Bicocca University) as well as M. Belfiore (Roche), and A. Bortolami (Veneto Region) and a final roundtable with participations of E.P. Lanati (Indicon), P. Popoli (AIFA) and P. Schicariol (AIFA).
The Session III was moderated by D. Lidonnici (MoreThanAccess) and A. Marcellusi (President-Elect) and was aimed at discussing Managed Entry Agreements, under the title “MEAs: A Possible Solution in the Presence of Uncertainty”. E. Xoxi (ALTEMS), N. Martini (Fondazione ReS) and M. Riccaboni (AXES School), discussed the international perspectives, the history and development of MEAs in Italy and their applications to the pricing of pharmaceuticals.
As a conclusion of day 1, as well as opening of day 2 participants attended two special podium presentations sessions, one moderated by M. Mezzetti (ISPOR Rome Director) and V. Viola (PharmaValue), and another one moderated by P. Berto (ISPOR Rome Director) and A. Bortolami (Veneto region). At these sessions the most interesting and relevant abstracts submitted by the Chapter members were presented and discussed. 25 abstracts in total were received and accepted as poster presentations, and 5 were selected as oral presentations from over 35 years old members and 5 from under 35 year old members.
As a conclusion of day 1, participants enjoyed poster viewing and networking at the wine & cheese reception, in the best ISPOR tradition.
The Session IV was focused on the presentation of another new ISPOR Report “Early Access Programs: Between Critical Issue and Proposals for the Future”. The session was introduced and moderated by A. Marcellusi (ISPOR Rome Chapter President-Elect) and L. Pippo (CSL Behring), C. Jommi (Piemonte Orientale University), V. Viola (PharmaValue), C. Roni (ASUGI), and A. Marcellusi illustrated the document. Discussants were M. Marata and A.La Greca and G. Scroccaro from AIFA/Regions, together with industry representatives G. Giuliani (Roche), D. De Spirito (Bayer), M. Tropea (MSD), and the ISPOR President P.L. Canonico and M. Prada (Intexo). The document can be accessed at https://www.isporitaly.org/index.php/documenti.
The Session V, moderated by G. Lazzeri (CSL Vifor) and F. Luccini (ISPOR Rome Director) was titled “HTA-R: How is Italy Moving?” This session was focused on the recent introduction of the Regulation (EU) 2021/2282 on health technology assessment (HTAR) which entered into force on 11 January 2022 and will apply from 12 January 2025. Discussants were A. Natz (EUCOPE), M. Marchetti (AGENAS), S. Montilla (AIFA), who discussed the contents and provided insights into the possible application and consequences of the Regulation on the Italian P&R process and was followed by the final roundtable with F. Gellona (Farmindustria Dispositivi), F.S. Mennini (SiHTA), S. Montilla, F. Patarnello (AstraZeneca), T. Petrangolini (ALTEMS).
There were a few important announcements at the end of the conference:
- 2 ex-aequo winners for best oral communication: Giacomo Matteo Bruno (Pavia University) for “The Clinical and Economic Implications of Early Identification of Chronic Kidney Disease in the General Practitioner (mmg) Setting: Insights from the Endorse Survey” and Salvatore Pirri (regulatory pharma net) for “Beyond Excel: The Emerging Role of R and Interactive Apps in Cost-Effectiveness Analysis”.
- Best poster winner Ludovica Borsoi (SDA Bocconi University) “Eliciting Society's Preferences for Treatments for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia: A Discrete Choice Experiment”
- 2024 Presidency of the GIRF (ISPOR young members group): Pietro Brambilla (Lundbeck) and Giorgio Casilli (MoreThanAccess)
- Special thanks were offered to outgoing Board members: Maurizio Mezzetti and Fulvio Luccini
- Congratulations to the new Board of Directors
- President Andrea Marcellusi
- Past-President Pier Luigi Canonico
- President - elect Claudio Jommi
- Treasurer Dario Lidonnici
- Secretary Andrea Pierini
- Board Patrizia Berto and Francesco Damele
Finally, the
ISPOR Rome Chapter General Assembly was held to inform all members of the achievements of the Association during 2023: sponsorships (11 sponsors plus 2 premium sponsors), free membership for members under 30 years of age, enlarged membership with 370 members in total (of which 237 members under 35 years old), future initiatives and programs.