ISPOR: The International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research

Kimberly Westrich, MA, chief strategy officer of the National Pharmaceutical Council, shares 3 key recommendations to improve the accuracy and quality of drug pricing data.

Session speakers at the 2024 meeting of ISPOR—The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research share their favorite parts of the conference.

Kimberly Westrich, MA, chief strategy officer of the National Pharmaceutical Council, reflects on the most valuable learnings from the 2024 meeting of ISPOR—The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research, including lively discussions of the Inflation Reduction Act and workshops on value assessment.

Posters presented at the ISPOR—The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research meeting explored Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) caregiver experiences and gene therapy’s impact on work opportunities for caregivers.

Phaedra Corso, PhD, associate vice president for research, Indiana University, discusses the importance of cost-effectiveness analysis in determining the feasibility and impact of public health interventions.

A panel discussion highlighted a new pathway that allows Medicare to embrace new tools and pay for them while gathering the evidence needed to ensure the technology is safe and appropriate for an older population.

William Padula, PhD, MSc, MS, assistant professor of pharmaceutical and health economics, University of California Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, discusses the benefits and advancements of cost-effectiveness analysis to improve decision-making and efficiency.

The triple therapy of budesonide, glycopyrrolate, and formoterol fumarate showed the greatest incremental net benefit among a series of triple therapy medications that were evaluated against dual therapy for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to an analysis presented at ISPOR.

A CMS official discusses a draft guidance on the second round of drug pricing negotiations amid uncertainties over the first round of talks under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

Nancy Dreyer, PhD, MPH, FISE, chief scientific advisor to Picnic Health, shares some of the ways that direct-to-patient approaches have improved observational research.

Kimberly Westrich, MA, of the National Pharmaceutical Council, explains how the 340B program is linked to increased drug spending and the hidden costs associated with it.

Research into the Inflation Reduction Act evaluated payer concerns, patient and physician behavior, which patients will benefit from the first 10 drugs selected for price negotiation, and the ripple effect into Medicaid at the state level.

The opening plenary session addresses a key priority of ISPOR on the first full day of the annual conference.

Seth Berkowitz, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, discussed the challenges associated with developing a whole-person health index and potential solutions for the "wrong pocket" problem.

Inma Hernandez, PharmD, PhD, professor at the University of California, San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, discussed the potential sources of savings associated with the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program.

Panelists at the leading health economics and outcomes conference discuss whether the FDA's process for allowing outside experts to weigh in on drug approvals needs changes.

About 5000 leaders in health economics and outcomes research will gather for the 2024 meeting, which has the theme, "HEOR: A Transformative Force for Whole Health.”

Darius Lakdawalla, PhD, director of research, Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics at the University of Southern California, discusses the growing importance of value assessment in the US market, highlighting research gaps and the need for equitable access to prescription drugs, as a presenter at the ISPOR 2024 conference.

Matthew Reynolds, PhD, vice president of real-world evidence at IQVIA, discusses findings of a recent paper with the National Pharmaceutical Council on how COVID-19 affected real-world data and research, as well as implications for future studies.

Technological innovation is helping to reinvent the traditional health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) field as traditional and new players partner to leverage data sources.

As the cost of therapies increases, US health plans are utilizing tools like step therapy, to ensure patients try cheaper alternatives first, and value assessment frameworks, to assist with the decision-making process.

Mark Trusheim, MS, BS, strategic director at the NEW Drug Development ParadIGmS program and visiting scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, explains factors involved when considering whether a therapy would be suitable for performance-based contracting.

With more than 3000 gene therapies in development, payers will have to grapple with the challenges of paying for these innovative but expensive therapies.

Amy Abernethy, MD, PhD, a hematologist/oncologist and palliative medicine physician, and former Principal Deputy Commissioner of the FDA, discusses new collaborations in the health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) landscape.

During a panel at Virtual ISPOR 2021, speakers presented global perspectives of COVID-19 vaccine rollout and efforts to target vaccine-hesitant communities.

Lou Garrison, PhD, professor emeritus in the Department of Pharmacy at the University of Washington, explains what is needed to optimize use of health technology assessment (HTA) in the fragmented US health care system.

J. Jaime Caro, MDCM, FACP, FRCPC, is chief scientist at Evidera, professor in practice at London School of Economics, and adjunct professor of medicine, epidemiology, and biostatistics at McGill University.

Two posters presented at Virtual ISPOR 2021 analyzed the health care resource utilization and cost of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with pneumonia, as well as the cost savings of treating patients with frequent or severe COPD exacerbations with a fixed-dose triple therapy.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought together the world and taught health systems how to be resilient and adapt to both predictable and unpredictable changes, said the panelists during the plenary on day 1 of Virtual ISPOR 2021.