Your biweekly news source for all things Health Technology Assessment international

Breaking News

HTAi Early HTA Working Group Announces Call for Interest, Meeting

HTAi provides a platform for members to have fruitful dialogue on specific themes which are of high interest for the global HTA community. Early HTA is an area of high interest, and a group of HTAi members is in the process of establishing an Early HTA Working Group.

At this time, the group is issuing a call for all parties who may be interested in working on the definition of Early HTA. The group will meet during the Annual Meeting, on Tuesday, June 27 | 16:15 – 17:15 at the Home Ground Bistro (which is attached to the Conference Centre). To join the meeting, please contact Janet Bouttell at [email protected].

Additionally, a pre-conference workshop on Early HTA will be held on Saturday, June 24 | 13:00 – 16:30 at the upcoming HTAi Annual Meeting, in Adelaide. All interested members are invited to register. The group also have a panel presentation entitled “What Is Early HTA And How Can It Facilitate Timely Patient Access To Valuable Innovations” on Monday, June 26 | 13:20-14:45. If you are working in this space or interested in finding out more about Early HTA, it would be great to see you there.

Updates from the Annual Meeting

The HTAi 2023 Annual Meeting is ONE MONTH away! Join us June 24-28, 2023, to experience hundreds of high-quality presentations exploring HTA’s biggest questions and cutting-edge developments. The presentations include a keynote and three plenaries that will examine various aspects of the event’s overall theme, the Road to Policy and Clinical Integration for health technologies.

There’s still time to register! If you haven’t yet secured your pass, head over to the Annual Meeting site soon— regular registration rates end June 15 at 23:59.

Recent htai2023.org Additions

The 2023 Annual Meeting website is updated weekly with new information! Take a look at the latest updates:

Important Annual Meeting dates:

Standard registration deadline: Thursday, June 15, 2023 at Midnight MDT (UTC-6)
Last-minute registration: Friday, June 16 to Wednesday, June 28, 2023
HTAi 2023 Annual Meeting Workshops: June 24 – 25, 2023
HTAi 2023 Annual Meeting: June 24-28, 2023

Norman Swan to join HTAi 2023 Annual Meeting Speakers

We are thrilled to share that Dr. Norman Swan, renowned Australian journalist and health expert, will be participating as a speaker in the HTAi 2023 Annual Meeting in Adelaide, Australia.

Dr. Norman Swan has dedicated his career to communicating important health information to the public, with a focus on evidence-based medicine and health care policy. He is the host of the award-winning radio program, The Health Report, on ABC Radio National, and also appears regularly on television programs such as 7.30 and Four Corners.

As an HTAi 2023 Annual Meeting speaker, Dr. Norman Swan will be moderator to Plenary Three, Feasibility of Aligning Technology Evaluation Processes and Decision in an Era of Sustainable Development. He will also deliver a speech at the Annual Meeting Conference Dinner, a favourite event for Annual Meeting attendees.

Learn more about Dr. Norman Swan’s involvement in the 2023 Annual Meeting

Register for the Conference Dinner

The Conference Dinner is one of the Annual Meeting’s most popular networking events— tickets often sell out!

The 2023 Annual Meeting Conference Dinner will take place on Tuesday, June 27, and will feature a special guest speaker, Dr. Norman Swan. Registration for the dinner is currently open, with increased seating capacity. If you would like to attend the Annual Meeting Conference Dinner, you can add your name to the waitlist through the Annual Meeting Registration link.

Exclusive Opportunities at the 2023 Annual Meeting

HTAi Annual Meetings offer an unparalleled platform for networking, connecting, and collaborating with the global HTA community. Take a look through the 2023 networking sessions. Please note, some session require invitation to participate.

Early Career Meet & Greet | Sunday, June 25 @ 18:15 — This session will provide a unique opportunity to forge connections, share experiences, and build a support network within the HTA community.
Welcome Reception | Sunday, June 25 @ 19:00 — Join us in welcoming colleagues and friends from around the world at the Adelaide Convention Centre with its beautiful evening view!
Conference Dinner | Tuesday, June 27 @ 19:30 — Spend an unforgettable evening at the Adelaide Oval. Enjoy a 3-course meal and an exclusive talk by Norman Swan. Connect with fellow delegates and show us your moves on the dancefloor.
International Engagement Roundtable | Monday, June 26 @ 12:05 — Exclusive networking session specifically for early career professionals. This session will provide a unique opportunity to forge connections, share experiences, and build a support network within the HTA community.
Consumer Consultative Brunch | Tuesday, June 27 @ 11:10 — Consumer focused presentation and a panel discussion, followed by a brunch & mingle. This session is primarily targeted at consumers; however, it is open to all meeting attendees.
Patient Lounge | Monday, June 26 – Wednesday, June 28 — The Patient Lounge aims to facilitate a patient-friendly environment to improve the overall experience of patient delegates. The space is for registered patients to rest and refresh, which offers a number of accommodations specific to patient needs.

Introducing… our 2023 Annual Meeting Sponsors!

The HTAi 2023 Annual Meeting is made possible through the support and generosity of our conference sponsors.

2023 Annual Meeting Workshop Feature

The HTAi 2023 Annual Meeting offers a variety of workshops designed to share innovative experiences and practices, and to provide learning opportunities for participants. The half or full-day events include interactive activities and focus on developing participants’ skills.

For the next few months, each issue of the HTAi Review will feature a workshop spotlight, aimed to help HTAi members learn about available opportunities. Registration is open for each of these workshops, which can be included as part of the Annual Meeting registration, or can be attended on their own. Learn more

WS14 – Engaging Stakeholders to Strengthen Health systems in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) moving towards Universal Health Coverage

Date & Time: Sunday, June 25 | 8:30AM to 12:00PM
Presenters: Jani Mueller, Anke Peggy Holtorf, Lauren Pretorius, Marilia Mastrocolla de Almeida Cardoso
Summary: This co-creation workshop addresses current hurdles in LMICs with the aim to strengthen evidence-informed decision-making for achieving more sustainability and inclusiveness in health systems on the path to universal health coverage. The multi-stakeholder participants will spend exciting 3 hours designing together possible pathways to implement HTA processes that fit the context of LMICs.

WS15 – Values In Doing Assessments Of Healthcare Technologies (VALIDATE)

Date & Time: Sunday, June 25 | 8:30AM to 12:00PM
Presenters: Bart Bloemen, Carla Fernández Barceló, Pietro Refolo, Iñaki Gutiérrez Ibarluzea, Wija Oortwijn
Summary: HTA is widely seen as a specific type of policy-research. However, in its course of development it has failed to take account of crucially important insights from policy sciences. The VALIDATE (VALues In Doing Assessments of healthcare Technologies) approach aims to redress this and offers a framework for integrating stakeholder perspectives and ethical analysis

WS20 – All things publishing: submitting to HTAi’s journal (IJTAHC) – what’s your article type and hot topics in publishing

Date & Time: Sunday, June 25 | 13:00PM – 16:30PM
Presenters: Wendy Babidge, Wim Goettsch, Sophie Werkö, Tara Schuller
Summary: Join Editors of HTAi’s journal (IJTAHC) to update on key areas in publishing and submission of articles.
This session will comprise several short presentations, firstly highlighting the importance of IJTAHC to HTAi, describing article types for IJTAHC and other similar journals that will be followed by an interactive session where anonymized abstracts of articles will be reviewed by participants.

WS22 – The Design Of Health Technology Assessment Processes Using Evidence-informed Deliberative Processes In Low and Middle Income Countries

Date & Time: Sunday, June 25 | 13:00PM – 16:30PM
Presenters: Wija Oortwijn, Maarten Jansen, Maryam Huda, Lyazzat Kosherbayeva
Summary: On their path towards universal health coverage, governments need to make choices in the design of HTA processes which may be challenging in countries that have limited experience with HTA. This workshop provides practical guidance on how to make these choices, informed by the theory of evidence-informed deliberative processes, international best practices and practical examples from several middle-income countries.

Speaker Spotlight

Meet our 2023 Annual Meeting Keynote and Plenary Speakers!

Plenary One: Fast-Tracking Clinical Innovation: The Balance of Speed and Rigour

Plenary 1 will focus on the possible ways of fast-tracking clinical innovation while minimizing risks related to its introduction and management. Some crucial dilemmas will have to be discussed, and possibly solved, such as:

- How to minimize health risks?
- How to deal with medico-legal risks?
- How to include financial risks in the overall balance?

To have a fruitful discussion, perspectives from different stakeholders such as policymakers, clinicians, and industry partners, will be included.

Meet the Panelists

Plenary Two: Making HTA More Efficient: What Can we Learn about Harmonization, Work Sharing and Adaptation?

Effective integration is dependent on the sharing and harmonization of HTA across contexts. Plenary Two will offer a panel discussion to explore and demonstrate local, regional, national, and international examples of harmonized HTA processes and rules. The most relevant initiatives at regional level (America, Asia, Europe) will be presented to highlight actual experiences and practical challenges related to the sharing of health technology evaluations (whether through adaptation or updating of existing HTA material), joint evaluations of technologies or joint submissions of evidence dossiers.

Meet the Panelists

Plenary Three: Feasibility of Aligning Technology Evaluation Processes and Decision in an Era of Sustainable Development

This Plenary builds on the discussion held at HTAi 2022 on facilitating collaboration between regulators, HTA bodies and clinicians. In HTAi 2023 we will consider how alignment of evaluation processes and decisions between different stakeholders might be achieved throughout the life cycle of a technology.

Meet the Panelists

A Look Back

The HTAi Asia Policy Forum held a Virtual Panel Discussion on Internship on May 12, 2023. The Discussion was held in partnership with HTAsiaLink, and explored how internship at HTA agencies, international organizations, and/or industry can improve capacity building efforts. A recording of the discussion is available on-demand. Watch it now
On May 25, the HTAi Patient and Citizen Involvement in HTA Interest Group (PCIG) hosted their latest webinar, A Framework for Characterizing Impact of Patient Involvement. In the webinar, PCIG proposes a framework for reporting on the impact of patient involvement in HTA. A recording of the webinar will be available on-demand later this week.

Network News

The 76th World Health Assembly
The 76th World Health Assembly (WHA) is currently taking place in Geneva, Switzerland. Elena Petelos, co-Chair of the RWE-AI Interest Group, will attend the WHA and provide a statement on behalf of HTAi. Learn more

Information Retrieval Interest Group Webinar
On June 1, 2023, the HTAi Information Retrieval Interest Group is hosting an engaging and insightful webinar, “Finding search filters for study designs: using the ISSG Search Filter Resource”. The webinar will feature speaker Julie Glanville, who will highlight and explore the ISSG Search Filter Resource. The webinar will take place at 08:00 MDT (UTC-6). Registration is open to HTAi members and non-members. Learn more

International Scientific Congress hosted by Bellberry
Bellberry Ltd is celebrating 20 years of supporting research and ethics, and as part of this important work, we are hosting an International Scientific Congress in Adelaide on Friday 23 June 2023.

Entitled ‘Toward a Coordinated Approach for Managing Accelerated Patient Access to Promising Medicines’ this Congress will include a presentation of the issues and a discussion on the options for managing these challenges. Accelerated access and balancing the various stakeholder perspectives are important and growing issues in the global health sector.

A 2.5 day Workshop will be run prior to the Congress, where an international panel of experts will develop a proposed framework, with governance of this process provided by a Scientific Advisory Committee chaired by Professor Emeritus Lloyd Sansom AO. Confirmed attendees include representatives from:

Australian Government Department of Health
CADTH – Canada’s Drug and Health Technology Agency
EMA – European Medicines Agency
EUNetHTA – European Network of Health Technology Assessment
Health Canada
IQWIQ – Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care, Germany
Medicines Australia
NHMRC – National Health and Medical Research Council
NICE – National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
OHE – Office of Health Economics, UK
PBAC – Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee
PMDA – Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency, Japan
TGA – Therapeutic Goods Administration

More information is available here.

HTA News from Around the World

From the Australian Department of Health and Aged Care: Public consultation focusing on the key objectives of the Review set out in the terms of reference will close on 6 June 2023. For more information on how to participate visit the Office of Health Technology Assessment Consultation Hub. Read more

From Australia’s Department of Health and Aged Care: On May 26th, Australia’s Department of Health and Aged Care announced a committee to advise on HTA investments under the Medical Research Future Fund. Read more

From the MHRA: A new regulatory pathway set to support safe patient access to innovative medical technologies in the UK, called the Innovative Devices Access Pathway (IDAP), is set for launch later in 2023. The IDAP will be operated by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), Health Technology Wales (HTW) and Scottish Health Technology Group (SHTG). Read more

From the Bulletin Board

If you have an open position you’d like to share with the HTAi membership, please contact [email protected].

IJTAHC Featured Publications

A HTA of what? Reframing through including patient perspectives in health technology assessment processes. Read more
Is the quality of evidence in health technology assessment deteriorating over time? A case study on cancer drugs in Australia. Read more
Health technology assessment for oral health in the past decade: a scoping review. Read more