BCN HEALTH strengthens its Health Economics department as a result of Therapeutic Positioning Reports

BCN HEALTH has expanded its Health Economics department following the inclusion of economic evaluation analysis in the Therapeutic Positioning Reports (TPR).

The Spanish Ministry of Health has published on its website the documents related to the Plan for the consolidation of the Therapeutic Positioning Reports of medicines in the National Healthcare System (NHS). Among the documents published we find the standardised working procedure for the drafting of TPRs for medicines in the NHS, which includes all the aspects that the TPR should address and details the criteria to be developed in each section.

This plan has introduced innovations in the implementation of TPRs, including the economic evaluation analysis. Forthcoming TPRs will include a cost-utility analysis, whereby each TPR must indicate the quality-adjusted life years achieved with the use of the drug assessed. This economic evaluation should include a table with the costs of the drug evaluated, as well as those of its comparators. This table should contain direct drug acquisition costs, cost per treatment or per treatment cycle, direct medical costs, and the incremental cost with respect to the treatment under assessment.

In addition to this economic evaluation analysis, a cost-effectiveness or cost-utility analysis may be included, for which the time horizon should be defined. This analysis should include costs as well as health outcomes over the time horizon to include important and different effects among the different treatments under assessment. Regardless of the type of analysis chosen, a sensitivity analysis should be performed to test the impact on the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of different variables, decision models and assumptions for which there is uncertainty in the initial value. 

Finally, an estimate of the budgetary impact will be elaborated based on the epidemiological data available. To this end, the target population will be estimated, calculating it for the main scenario and for the alternative scenarios. These estimates will be conducted at the national level.

Regarding the economic evaluation analysis, the Spanish Ministry of Health has indicated that results of published economic analyses will be assessed, and relevant studies will be taken into account. A summary of these studies will be included in the TPR.

About us:

BCN Health is an independent consultancy specialising in health economics, outcomes research, market access and pricing and reimbursement for drugs, medical devices and biotechnology.

BCN Health has a large and experienced team of health economists, medical writers, biostatisticians and other life sciences professionals with in-depth knowledge of national health systems in Europe's most important markets.

Contact: enquiries@bcnhealth.com