news - ispor ??diana.brixner@ ... college of pharmacy, tuscon, ... and organizational structure for...

TISPORa non-profit 501(c)(3) organization

20 Nassau Street, Suite 307Princeton, NJ 08542 USA Tel: 609-252-1305 Fax: 609-252-1306 email: info@ispor.org Internet: www.ispor.org

1999-2000 EXECUTIVE BOARD

PresidentBryan Luce PhD, MBAMEDTAP Internationalluce@medtap.com

President-ElectJon Clouse RPh, MSIngenix-Kern McNeiljclouse@uhc.com

Past PresidentRobert S. Epstein MD, MSrobert_epstein@merck.com

DirectorsDiana Brixner RPh, PhDdiana.brixner@pharma.novartis.com

Peter Davey MD, FRCPP.G.DAVEY@dundee.ac.uk

Karen Rascati RPh, PhDkrascati@mail.utexas.edu

Adrian Towse MA, Mphilatowse@abpi.org.uk

Gordon Vanscoy PharmD, MBAgvanscoy@stadtlander.com

Executive DirectorMarilyn Dix Smith RPh, PhDmdsmith@ispor.org

ISPOR NEWS EditorDonna Rindress PhDnewseditor@ispor.org

UNITING SCIENCE AND PRACTICE

VOL. 6, NO. 2 MAR/APR 2000 INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR PHARMACOECONOMICS AND OUTCOMES RESEARCH

IN THISISSUE

Distinguished ISPOR Members Head Up theISPOR Health Science Steering Committee

News

1_ ISPORs Health Science Steering Committee

3_ Fireside Chat with ISPOR President Bryan Luce PhD, MPH

4_ ISPORs Board of Directors Actions

6_ News Briefs from Around the World

8_ Student Corner

8_ Student Networking Group

9_ Bulletin Board

10_ Using Pharmacoeconomics & Outcomes Research Innovatively

17_ ISPOR 5th Annual International Meeting Events Chart

18_ ISPOR 5th Annual International Meeting Summary of Events

19_ ISPOR 5th Annual International Meeting Registration

The ISPOR Board of Directors recently

approved the formation of the ISPOR Health

Science (HS) Steering Committee. The

objective of this HS Steering Committee is

to build on the initiatives of the multi-

disciplinary Cost-effectiveness in Health and

Medicine Panel appointed by the US Public

Health Service (whose recommendations

were published in Cost-effectiveness in Health

and Medicine, edited by Gold, Siegel, Russell,

and Weinstein), the ISPOR Advisory Panels

on Pharmacoeconomics Issues (whose recom-

mendations were published in VALUE IN

HEALTH Vol. 2, No. 2 [March-April, 1999]),

and other outcomes research practice

standard publications.

The goals of the ISPOR Health SciencePolicy Task Forces are to:

1. Develop and disseminate good practice

standards in health outcomes research and

its use in decision making:

To address the specific methodological

issues identified for each pharma-

coeconomic / outcomes research

methodology;

To develop consensus on solutions to

these issues through programming,

surveys, or other means of promotion.

To publish these results as good research

practices, code of ethics, or policy

statements.

2. Develop other resources for influencing

public healthcare policy.

2

3. Influence public healthcare policy-making on the basis of goodscientific practices to improve the use of scientific information(i.e. pharmacoeconomic/health economic and healthcareoutcomes information) in healthcare decision-making and todevelop awareness of these good research practices, code ofethics, or policy statements through programs, workshops, ortraining programs with healthcare decision-makers.

The HS Steering Committee Chair is:Nicolaas Otten PharmD, Director Pharmaceutical & ExtramuralResearch, Canadian Coordinating Office for Health Technology,Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

The HS Steering Committee Task Forcesand Chairs are:Task Force on Good Research Practices Prospective StudiesLouis A. Morris PhD, Senior Vice President and ManagingDirector of the Marketing and Regulatory Consulting Division ofSCP Communications, Melville, New York, USA

Task Force on Good Research Practices Modeling StudiesMilton Weinstein PhD, Professor Health Policy & Management,Harvard School of Public Health, Center for Risk Analysis,Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Task Force on Good Research Practices RetrospectiveDatabase StudiesBrenda Motheral RPh, PhD, MBA, Assistant Professor, Universityof Arizona, College of Pharmacy, Tuscon, Arizona, USA

Task Force on Good Research Practices-Outcomes Assessmentusing Quality of Life IndicatorsPaul Kind Mphil, Senior Research Fellow, University of York,Centre for Health Economics, York, UK

Task Force on Use of Pharmacoeconomic / Health EconomicInformation in Healthcare Decision-makingMichael Drummond PhD, Director, University of York,Centre for Health Economics, York, UK

Task Force on Medical Information AccessKarl Matuszewski MS, PharmD, Director, Technology Assessment, University HealthSystem Consortium, ClinicalPractice Advancement Center, Oak Brook, Illinois, USA

Task Force on Code of EthicsFrank Palumbo JD, PhD, Director, University of Maryland Centeron Drugs & Public Policy, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Each of the Task Force will have its own agenda, but areascommon to two or more Task Forces will be coordinated throughthe Steering Committee. In particular, we want to develop

comprehensive good research practices (toolboxes) for themajor methodological areas to provide guidance to theresearchers. Second, we would like to develop levels of evidenceor checkboxes for those components that are consideredessential. In some areas, such as use of administrative databases,there is very little in the way of current published good researchpractices. For others, some work has begun (e.g., modeling) fromwhich we can provide further clarification and enhancementwhile others (e.g. quality of life) have been clarified and acceptedin some jurisdictions.

The four Task Forces which will be primarily developingtoolboxes for the outcomes researcher are: Task Force on Good Research Practices Prospective Studies Task Force on Good Research Practices Modeling Studies Task Force on Good Research Practices Retrospective

Database Studies Task Force on Good Research Practices Outcomes Assessment

using Quality of Life Indicators

The Task Forces must address the ethical issues to consider whenconducting the types of outcomes research given above, as well asthe issues to address in assuring access to medical information(such as assuring patient confidentiality), are: Task Force on a Code of Ethics Task Force on Medical Information Access

The Task Force must act as a two-way street to assure that thegood research practices incorporate the needs and reality checksof healthcare decision-maker and must be the translator of thesegood research practices as well as develop a toolbox for thehealthcare decision-maker in interpreting and using outcomesstudies is: Task Force on Use of Pharmacoeconomic / Health Economic /

Outcomes Research Information in Healthcare Decision-making

The diagram below illustrates the overlap in missions.

continued from cover

Good ResearchPractices

Prospective Studies

Good ResearchPractices

Retrospective Database Studies

Code of Ethics

Medical Info Access

Good Research Practices QoL

Outcomes Assessment

Good Research Practices

Modeling Studies

Use of Pharmacoeconomics / Health Economic / Outcomes Research Information

on Healthcare Decision Making

A

3

from Bryan Luce PhD, MPH, 1999-2000 ISPOR President

FIRESIDE CHATwith the ISPOR President

Bridging the Gap: AWake-up Call!

The mission of theInternational Society forPharmacoeconomics andOutcomes Research is totranslate pharmacoeconomicsand outcomes research intopractice to ensure that societyallocates health care resourceswisely, fairly and efficiently.

At our Strategic Planning Retreat last

Autumn, the ISPOR Board decided that

its highest priorities for new initiatives

was bridging the gap between the

production of health economic and

outcomes research information and the

use of it in health care decision-making.

We have yet to make significant

progress in closing this gapa term

which may be better labeled chasm.

The issue was brought to the fore at

Hilton Head earlier this month where I

participated in a session at the annual

DIA Quality of Life conference. My job

was to describe ISPORs role and

activities relative to health-related

quality of life. I shared the platform

with Dr. Ivan Borovsky, President-elect

of the International Society of Quality

of Life (ISOQOL) who was to give a

parallel presentation as to his Societys

role. Without coordinating

presentations, our respective remarks

made obvious that we had very

different views of the roles of our two

societies. According to Dr. Borovsky,

ISOQOLs role is primarily focused on

technically improving the state of

health-related quality of life (HRQL)

research, while I saw ISPOR as more

focused on the policy of disseminating

and using HRQL information for health

care decision-making. When asked my

opinion as to whether the HRQL

evidence was being used systematically

in health care decisions, I had to answer

that I saw very little evidence of it.

This is both ironic and unfortunate.

Ironic in that health-related quality of

life endpoints are now virtually

standard elements of most major drug

clinical protocols and are increasingly

included as measures of clinical efficacy

and even part of the labeling. Further,

health-related quality of life is almost

purely a patient issue, secondarily a

patient family issue. When patients seek

health care, they seek first and for