The European network for Health Technology Assessment (EUnetHTA) is a collaboration across government-appointed organisations from EU Member States, EEA and EFTA countries and a large number of relevant regional agencies and non-for-profit organisations that produce or contribute to HTA. The Collaboration focuses on HTA in Europe to facilitate efficient use of resources available for HTA, to create a sustainable system of HTA knowledge sharing, and to promote good practice in HTA methods and processes.
As part of its many work programmes, EUnetHTA is developing a framework for the Rapid Relative Effectiveness Assessment of Pharmaceuticals and guidelines. The framework doesn’t include an economic analysis, but encompasses a broader range of factors that are considered important to decision makers. These domains are:
- Description and technical characteristics of technology
- Safety
- Clinical effectiveness
- Ethical analysis
- Organisational aspects
- Social domain
- Legal domain
Within each domain, a series of questions have been identified that address the important issues. The framework has been piloted using pazopanib (Votrient, GlaxoSmithKline) for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma as an example.
The results are out to consultation until the 6th July.
