ISPOR Europe 2024: preview of the plenary sessions

Next month, ISPOR Europe 2024 will bring together leading professionals in health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) and real-world evidence (RWE) in Barcelona, Spain. From November 17 to 20, the conference will feature a comprehensive program centered around the theme “Generating Evidence Toward Health and Well-Being.” In this preview, we highlight the key plenary sessions scheduled across the event’s main three days.

Plenary 1

The Evidence-Price Conundrum: What Is the Way Forward for Patient Access?

Date and time: Monday November 18, 8:30am – 9:45am
Moderator: Yannis Natsis, European Social Insurance Platform (ESIP), Brussels, Belgium
Speakers: Richard Bergstrom, IQVIA, Zug, Switzerland; Valérie Paris, Paris, France; Pedro Facon, National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance, Brussels, Belgium; Birgitte Klindt Poulsen, Danish Medicines Council, Copenhagen, Denmark

Overview: This session will explore strategies and policy interventions aimed at addressing two critical challenges: the high cost of certain medications and the insufficient evidence supporting many products at the time of their market entry. These issues are particularly relevant with the new EU HTA Regulation (EU HTAR) set to commence in 2025. The speakers, providing the payer perspective, will examine the progress made through collaborative intergovernmental efforts, such as the Beneluxa initiative, and will assess where EU-level interventions can be both practical and impactful. They will also review trends in pharmaceutical spending and provide insights on how European countries can collaborate to ensure timely access to cost-effective, evidence-based treatments for patients.

Plenary 2

Ready, Set, Go: The Last Sprint for the EU HTAR

Date and time: Tuesday November 19, 8:30am – 9:45am
Moderator: Anne Willemsen, Dutch National Healthcare Institute, Diemen, The Netherlands
Speakers: Roisin Adams, National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics, Dublin, Ireland & Discipline of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland; Vanessa Schaub, Global Access Evidence, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Basel, Switzerland; Michal Stanak, National Institute for Value and Technologies in Healthcare (NIH), Bratislava, Slovakia; Valentina Strammiello, European Patients’ Forum, Brussels, Belgium

Overview: The conversation around EU HTAR continues in the second plenary of ISPOR Europe 2024 – with the HTA perspective being presented. This session will evaluate whether stakeholders are ready for the new system and address the key challenges they face in implementing HTAR. The discussion will cover how different stakeholders are adapting—industry’s response to increased population, intervention, comparator(s), and outcomes (PICO) assessments and potential AI use, how HTA bodies, especially in Eastern Europe, are preparing for joint clinical assessments (JCAs), and how patient organizations are getting ready. The panelists will also explore how the HTAR interacts with existing initiatives like Beneluxa and the International Horizon Scanning Initiative (IHSI), and whether they complement each other.

Plenary 3

Reality Check: Are We Bridging the Evidence Gaps for Patients?

Date and time: Wednesday November 20, 11:30am – 12:45pm
Moderator: Patrice Verpillat, European Medicines Agency, Amsterdam, The Netherlands,
Speakers: Yannis Natsis, European Social Insurance Platform (ESIP), Brussels, Belgium; Anne Willemsen, Dutch National Healthcare Institute, Diemen, The Netherlands, Almath Spooner, Abbvie, Dublin, Ireland; Nikos Dedes, Greek Patients’ Association, Athens, Attika, Greece

Overview: This final plenary will focus on the regulatory step and explore how stakeholders’ needs can be better anticipated. Regulators, HTA agencies, payers, and the pharmaceutical industry are collaborating closely with patients to ensure innovative drugs reach patients as early as possible. This effort focuses on generating reliable, meaningful evidence from randomized controlled trials and real-world data (RWD) to support various assessments, such as benefit/risk and relative effectiveness. Despite differences in scope, commonalities exist in evidence generation, though uncertainties remain at different decision-making stages. This session will explore how to minimize these uncertainties and ensure all stakeholders have the necessary evidence for informed decisions, enabling timely patient access to innovative treatments.

Exclusive coverage by The Evidence Base

The Evidence Base team will be attending ISPOR Europe 2024 to provide coverage of the event, including ‘Deep Dives’ into key sessions, and ‘Peek Behind the Poster’ interviews with some of the experts presenting at the event. All content, including our conference round-ups, will be featured on our ISPOR event page and shared via social media channels.

If you’re attending the conference and are interested in meeting with the team to be interviewed for The Evidence Base, or you are interested in contributing to the Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research, please email Jo Walker.

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Our coverage of previous ISPOR conferences has generated significant engagement from our global HEOR audience, with increased visibility through valuable content and thought leadership opportunities for sponsors. If you wish to showcase your company or products on our dedicated page pre-, during-, and post-event, then please get in touch to discuss options.

Message Phil Garner for more information on how to partner with us for this important event.