What definition of HTA do you subscribe to?Mark: HTA is a term that is used quite loosely. It seems that the formal definition is to provide an assessment of medical technologies using different perspectives including clinical, economic, ethical and technical. But I think the meaning that it has dev

WASHINGTON — One of the few bills moving through Congress with bipartisan support this spring would speed government approval of lower-cost generic copies of brand-name drugs. But one company, with help from an influential former congressman, is lobbying to protect its most lucrative brand-name prod

Vaccines have been a game-changer in the fight against COVID-19. Yet, vaccine hesitancy has impeded its uptake, impacting public health efforts. At the outset of the pandemic, people had doubts about this unfamiliar virus and subsequently, the vaccine: misinformation, rumours, and doubts about COVID

(Reuters) – Pharmaceutical companies selling drugs in parts of the San Francisco Bay area would be required to submit plans for incinerating or safely disposing of unused medication under a plan advanced by county officials this week.The measure, billed by supporters as the first of its kind in the

To learn how best to prescribe powerful drugs to children, Congress passed a law in the 1990s that rewarded drug makers for conducting clinical studies involving children. Among the incentives for cooperating companies was a possible six-month extension of protection from generic competition after a

(Reuters) – GlaxoSmithKline is holding talks this weekend with Human Genome Sciences to agree a deal to acquire it for some $2.6 billion, after pursuing the U.S. biotech company for three months, sources familiar with the situation said on Sunday.The British pharmaceutical giant could sweeten its pr

New drugs for breast cancer and multiple myeloma won approval from the Food and Drug Administration on Friday, expanding options for patients in advanced stages of those diseases.The breast cancer drug, Afinitor from Novartis, seems to expand the time that endocrine therapy can keep the disease in c

PMAC 2016 Side Event (SE 014): Advanced Workshop in Methods for HTAThe methods of HTA have developed rapidly in the last decade. This is particularly the case in assessing the cost-effectiveness of interventions using modelling methods and in undertaking uncertainty analysis to guide decisions. Deci

(Reuters) – A U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel on Thursday recommended two drugs for combating different forms of vision loss that can lead to blindness among a range of adults, including diabetics and the elderly.The FDA advisory committee of outside experts gave its support to Swiss-based R

The company said the drug sovaprevir, when given along with the standard therapy of pegylated interferon and ribavirin, showed no detectable virus level in a majority of patients four weeks after the end of the treatment period.Of the 39 patients who received 12 weeks of additional standard therapy