EU’s Joint Regulatory/HTA System Praised, But Improvements Needed

Access To New Drugs Is Still Problematic In Some Countries

Panelists at the virtual DIA Europe 2020 conference heard some good news about progress with the EU’s parallel consultation system for scientific advice, and some not so good news about continuing differences in health technology assessments at national level across Europe.

Puzzle — EU regulators and HTA bodies are working closely together • Source: Shutterstock

Some progress has been made in aligning decision-making by national health technology assessment (HTA) bodies and the European Medicines Agency, particularly as a result of the new EMA-HTA parallel consultation system which replaced the original joint scientific advice procedure in 2017.

However, there are still significant differences in the reimbursement decisions taken by individual countries, partly because of the varying clinical...