ISPOR 2025: preview of the plenary sessions
ISPOR 2025, the leading global conference from ISPOR—The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research returns on May 13–16 in Montréal, QC, Canada. This year’s theme, Collaborating to Improve Healthcare Decision Making for All: Expanding HEOR Horizons, aims to underscore the pivotal role of health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) in shaping more equitable, data-informed healthcare systems worldwide.
This year’s plenaries will see experts discuss the evolving role of evidence in shaping policy, access, and innovation worldwide. In this preview, we highlight the key plenary sessions scheduled across the event’s main three days.
Plenary 1
Drug Price Controls―What Are the Unintended Consequences to Innovation?
Date and time: Wednesday May 14, 8:30am – 9:45am
Moderator: Gregory Daniel (Eli Lilly and Company)
Speakers: Virginia Lee Acha (Merck); Graham Cookson (Office of Health Economics); Sean D Sullivan (University of Washington); Darius Lakdawalla (University of Southern California)
Drug pricing will take center stage in the opening plenary, a notable focus given its second-place ranking in ISPOR’s Top 10 HEOR Trends Report and the shifting health policy landscape in the US, including the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Speakers will explore how price limits affect innovation, market availability, and the day-to-day realities of pharmacy providers, while also highlighting where HEOR experts can support more balanced, evidence-informed policymaking across stakeholder groups.
Plenary 2
Evolution of Evidence―Innovating for the Future of HTA
Date and time: Thursday May 15, 8:30am – 9:45am
Moderator: Nicole Mittmann (Canada's Drug Agency)
Speakers: Sudha Kutty (Canada's Drug Agency), Pascale Lehoux (INESSS), Donald Husereau (University of Ottawa), Connie Cote (Health Charities Coalition of Canada)
As health technology assessment (HTA) moves beyond clinical and economic metrics, it is increasingly shaped by broader considerations, ranging from patient perspectives and health equity to environmental and ethical factors. This plenary will explore what that transformation looks like in practice, both globally and through a Canadian perspective. Speakers from HTA bodies, academia, patient communities, and payers will discuss how to embed real-world data (RWD), redefine value, and take a whole health approach to future-proof HTA for increasingly complex and dynamic health systems.
Plenary 3
Balancing Speed and Scientific Rigor―Patient-Centered Methodologies for Surrogate Endpoints in Accelerated Access
Date and time: Friday May 16, 11:30am – 12:45pm
Moderator: Elisabeth Oehrlein (Applied Patient Experience, LLC)
Speakers: Ebony Dashiell-Aje (BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Inc.); Chester Good (UPMC Health Plan); Yvette A Venable (AstraZeneca), Durhane Wong-Rieger (Canadian Organization for Rare Disorders)
Surrogate endpoints, defined as biomarkers or other intermediate outcomes that predict treatment effect on a final clinical outcome, are increasingly being used in drug approval processes, particularly for expedited pathways like conditional or accelerated approvals. But without direct evidence of patient benefit, these measures can complicate value assessments. In this plenary, speakers will examine how surrogate endpoints can be made more meaningful for both regulators and HTA bodies. The session will include a discussion on methods to validate surrogates, the role of patient input in shaping endpoints, and how to balance speed with scientific rigor in evidence generation and real-world decision-making.
Exclusive coverage by The Evidence Base
As a media partner for ISPOR 2025, The Evidence Base team will be attending conferecne to provide coverage of the event, including in depth summaries of the plenaries, ‘Deep Dives’ into key sessions, and ‘Peek Behind the Poster’ interviews with some of the experts presenting at the event. All content, including our daily conference round-ups, will be featured on our ISPOR event page and shared via social media channels.
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