Your biweekly update on health economics, policy, and impact
This week, we highlight adopting broader perspectives on value in HTA, exploring how obesity medicines are seen differently, and the core HTA values guiding decisions in France.
The OHE report argues that a broader perspective is necessary to understand the full impact of a disease and its treatment. Such an understanding would facilitate HTA decision-making that can recognise the full value of health gains and ensure health gains or cost savings don’t come at the expense of informal carers, family members or broader society.
The HEMA report largely agrees with the principle of considering broader impacts. However, as explained in a letter of dissent to the final report from Lotte Steuten, OHE’s Deputy Chief Executive and a member of the HEMA working group, the report’s recommendations arguably put more weight on the risks and uncertainties around broader value elements than on similar risks and uncertainties around the status quo. This imbalanced, biased approach is a barrier to recognising the full impacts of diseases and their treatments.
Are HTA decisions missing the real burden of disease?
The case for adopting a broader perspective on value in Health Technology Assessment
Many health technology assessment (HTA) decisions focus on a narrow payer perspective. This can overlook indirect costs and wider impacts on carers, families, and society. This whitepaper outlines why broader perspectives should be used more routinely, particularly when diseases create substantial indirect costs and spillover effects.
Why do we expect obesity medicines to work differently?
GLP-1 medicines support weight management while patients are on treatment, but benefits do not persist after discontinuation. Public and policy narratives often treat this as a failure, unlike with antihypertensives or statins. Reframing obesity as a chronic, relapsing condition can guide better clinical practice, shape HTA, and inform policy decisions, including reimbursement, access, and long-term care strategies.
France’s roadmap for innovative health technologies
Around The World in HTAs: France – Three Core HTA Values
France’s HTA system, led by Haute Autorité de Santé, evaluates medicines and medical devices for clinical benefit, innovation, and economic impact. Pharmaceuticals are assessed through clinical benefits (SMR) and clinical added value (ASMR) criteria, prioritising randomised controlled trials, with economic evaluations informing price negotiations for innovative products.
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