From the EUnetHTA website:
“The EPL expresses the identified significant interest of national HTA bodies in relation to individual compounds as presented in the list. By pro-actively selecting those topics in direct collaboration with national bodies, EUnetHTA strives to increase implementation of Joint Assessments qualitatively and quantitatively at the national level. This is one of the key elements of Joint Action 3.
The Heads of HTA Agencies of the countries represented in the EUnetHTA Executive Board (ExB) have agreed to take a more proactive approach in performing Joint Assessments. There is a strong consensus within EUnetHTA that this approach will strengthen the methods and procedures of the pharmaceutical Joint Assessments to increase the benefits of European cooperation on HTA and to shape the future model of collaboration. This facilitates national implementation and uptake of the Joint Assessments, and therefore the EUnetHTA ExB has agreed upon the creation of the EPL.
The EPL is based on the Innovation Observatory. The list was cross-checked with the open access Dutch Horizon Scan and the publicly available EMA list of medicines under evaluation to estimate regulatory timelines. In compiling the list, EUnetHTA partners were asked to indicate their interest, including using the assessment at the national level. The final prioritisation was based on this feedback and combined with the anticipated feasibility of the compatibility of timelines of the EUnetHTA assessment and estimated regulatory timelines. Therefore, prioritisation does not discriminate between pharmaceutical companies, compounds or indication. Of note, the EPL is an ad-hoc approach. As such, it will be evaluated and, in the future, may lead to a systematic approach.
The EPL stands complementary to the already well-established mechanism for voluntary submission of new compounds, both of which will continue in the future to run in parallel to the EPL.
EUnetHTA will interface with all companies on the EPL in order to establish further dialogue and increase cooperation on prioritised topics.”
