Data availability to conduct on relative effectiveness assessments

In 2002, the G10 High-Level Group on innovation and provision of medicines recommended that the Commission (Recommendation No 7) should "organise a European reflection to explore how Member States can improve ways of sharing information and data requirements to achieve greater certainty and reliability for all stakeholders, even if the decisions they take may differ. The objective is to foster the development of health technology assessment (HTA), including clinical and cost effectiveness, in the Member States and the EU ; to improve the value of HTA, to share national experiences and data while recognising that relative evaluations should remain a responsibility of Member States".

The Pharmaceutical Forum was set up in 2005 to address this and other issues raised by the G10, in particular on information to patients and pricing and reimbursement of drugs.

The objective of the relative effectiveness working group is to help Member States to apply relative effectiveness systems in an effort to manage pharmaceutical costs and provide a fair reward for innovation. Relative effectiveness assessment systems are relatively new for many Member States and can be rather complex. Nevertheless, relative effectiveness is promising as it helps to identify the most valuable medicines, in terms of both clinical efficiency and cost-effectiveness. The Working Group has combined the experience of different Member States and other stakeholders in order to support further development in this important field.