On November 9, 2021, ISPOR celebrated its latest Health Technology Assessment Roundtable for the Asia-Pacific region. Dr. Isao Kamae, ISPOR President 2022-2023, kicked off the meeting welcoming all the participants and sharing his vision to engage with the HTA bodies in the Asia Pacific region and highlighting the role of the Society to create connections and spaces where HTA professionals can share information and learn from each other.
The topics covered during the Roundtable were: 1) Approaches for the Lifecycle on HTA; and 2) The identification of best practices in contracting processes. These topics were presented by recognized HTA experts across the Asia Pacific currently involved conducting assessments or collaborating on the development of the process and frameworks to improve them.
Approaches for the Lifecycle on HTA
Dr. Sukyeong Kim, MPH, RPh, PhD, Senior Research Fellow, National Evidence-based Healthcare Collaborating Agency (NECA), South Korea presented on NECA's role on the evaluation of medical technologies (pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and medical procedures). She described evaluation processes, including horizon scanning that are occurring at each stage of the technologies’ life cycles. She also highlighted the collaboration H-SIGHT (Horizon Scanning Center for Innovative Global HT). Lastly Dr. Sukyeong reinforced the role real-world evidence (RWE) plays during the assessments and how reevaluation processes and/or disincorporation of obsolete technologies should be executed.
Dr. Takashi Fukuda, PhD, Director, Center for Outcomes Research and Economic Evaluation for Health (C2H), National Institute of Public Health, Japan, shared the details of the access system for medicines and medical devices in Japan, the pricing rules for new medicines and the recently implemented cost-effectiveness evaluation system and the role of C2H as consulting body providing recommendations for the products submitted to this new evaluation process.
Dr. Izzuna Ghazali, of the Ministry of Health, Malaysia, presented an overview of MAHTAs (the Malaysian technology assessment agency), its main achievements and the mechanism of incorporating horizon scanning, including the identification of technologies dedicated to the treatment of priority or high-cost diseases. Finally, Dr. Ghazali shared a practical example in the evaluation of treatments for Hemophilia and how, based on horizon scanning, the incorporation of prophylactic treatments was recommended and adopted in the clinical guidelines.
Best Practices in Contracting
The objective of the panel aimed to review the strategies and initiatives implemented by the countries to negotiate deals with technology producers, especially for drugs with high cost, multiple indications and potentially curative therapies that have a significant upfront cost.
Dr. Li-Ying (Grace) Huang of the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) shared Taiwan’s experiences on the development and implementation of MEAs (Managed Entry Agreements), the role of the RWE in the execution of these agreements, and additionally the way the CDE is using horizon scanning on the reassessment of obsolete technologies and other experiences implementing drug pricing policies.
Mr. Ben Campbell-Macdonald, representing PHARMAC (New Zealand) shared the role of the agency in managing the budget allocated for health services focusing their efforts to keep the costs derived from the investment in drugs and medical devices under control. Mr. Campbell-Macdonald detailed the functions of PHARMAC on purchasing medical supplies (including RFPS preparations, Tendering, Contracting and Negotiation) among other related activities as: pricing reference and national contracts.
The event ended with the adjournment and summary from Dr. Churn-Shiouh Gau, PhD, Adjunct Professor, School of Pharmacy, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, who thanked the attendees and speakers for their active participation in making the HTA-RT AP a success.
The goal of the ISPOR HTA Roundtable is to discuss, debate, and share issues relating to the application of health technology assessment to optimize health care decisions using health economics outcomes research. The roundtable is a platform to exchange information, methods, and knowledge among key decision makers on the development of health technology assessment in the region and to share experiences and further cooperation between the participants. Additional information on the ISPOR HTA Roundtable is available
here.