Costello Medical were delighted to have a team of 22 colleagues attend ISPOR Europe 2024 in Barcelona, Spain this November – our biggest ever delegation!
This year’s agenda was dominated by the impending European Union (EU) Joint Clinical Assessment (JCA) process and the EU Commission’s legislative proposal for pharmaceutical regulation. Whilst this certainly isn’t a new topic for ISPOR, the now imminent arrival of JCA (at least for first-indication oncology and advanced therapy medicinal products from January 2025) brought with it an interesting mixture of excitement, apprehension, and in some cases apathy, depending on who you spoke to at this year’s conference! Questions remained around the practical challenges to manufacturers of addressing high numbers of PICOs in such a short timeframe, the need for additional capacity and capabilities across national HTA bodies, and the extent to which JCA would impact market access without a conclusion regarding the level of clinical benefit. However, there was a sense of cautious optimism across many delegates that, if successfully implemented, JCA could facilitate faster and more equitable market access across the EU, incentivise more robust, HTA-focused evidence generation, and initiate a trend towards more international collaboration in knowledge-sharing globally.
There was also a large focus on the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in health economics and outcomes research (HEOR), alongside the ever-present theme of real-world evidence (RWE). It was notable to see the discussion of these topics move from the theoretical to the practical, with a number of our delegates attending the first AI-focused short courses. There was, of course, plenty more on the conference agenda besides AI, JCA and RWE, with breakout sessions, podium presentations and posters providing updates on cutting-edge methods in HEOR and the latest insights into market access policy for pharmaceuticals and MedTech.
We were pleased to contribute 2 issue panels and 16 research posters of our own to the conference (please see here for these and our other published research).
Our conference attendees have prepared commentaries on a variety of specific topics from the conference – these can be found at the following links. We hope you enjoy reading them!
The Home Stretch: Is Europe Any More Ready for the HTAR One Year On?
Will JCA Set the Tempo For Increased Global Harmonisation in the Access Landscape?
Trust Me I’m a (Ph)Doctor: Ensuring Integrity and Reliability in AI-Augmented HEOR Work
RWE for Medical Devices and Diagnostics: The Journey Towards Acceptance for Regulatory and HTA
The Bigger Picture: Considering Broader Value Drivers and Perspectives in HEOR
From Trendy to Timeless: Sustaining Patient Access to Rare Disease Therapies in a Shifting Landscape
If you would like any further information about our presence at ISPOR Europe 2024 and learnings from attending the conference, please do not hesitate to contact Alex Porteous, Deputy Head of HTA (LinkedIn).
