Dr. Máirín Ryan:

On work in the European network of HTA, we are a full partner in the collaboration which is currently ongoing. So far, it has been about piloting the joint clinical assessments. When we produce joint clinical assessments, they are validated by the UNnetHTA process. UNnetHTA is a voluntary collaboration across 81 HTA agencies and institutional producers of HTA across the 28 states.

On standardisation of costs, the regulation is concerned with joint clinical assessment. There are difficulties when it comes to economic collaboration. For example, the economic model can be potentially shared across different countries but a state may need to adapt it to its own setting. That is because it is not only about the cost of drugs or technologies differing, it is because the economic model considers all the other costs associated with the use of the therapy and also the impacts of the therapy. If the drug reduces the incidence of strokes, for example, then we have to consider the saving associated with the reduced incidence of strokes. The cost of managing stroke in Ireland is very different to what it is in Poland, for example, and also in Denmark because the different health care systems are set up differently and costs are different. That is where some of the difficulty arises on cost.