Posted by Michael Wonder on 25 Mar 2019
Canadian public places high priority on drugs’ safety, effectiveness, and certainty of evidence
25 March 2019 - Survey reveals top values for drug coverage decision making.
Value in Health, the official journal of ISPOR—the professional society for health economics and outcomes research, announced today the publication of new research showing that Canadians believe drug coverage decision makers should prioritise safety, effectiveness, and strong evidence. The report, “Evaluating Canadians’ Values for Drug Coverage Decision Making,” was published in the March 2019 issue of Value in Health.
Researchers conducted an online survey of 2539 Canadian adults, asking respondents to rank the relative importance that 13 factors should have in informing drug reimbursement decisions. The values ranked in the top 5 by most of the subjects were potential effect on quality of life (65.4%), severity of the disease (62.6%), ability of drug to work (61.1%), safety (60.5%), and potential to extend life (49.4%). These factors were 5 to 7 times more important than those values ranked the lowest (disease rarity, adherence, unmet need, age, and lifestyle), and support the traditional methods used in Canada to review common drugs, which stress the drugs’ effectiveness and the certainty of the evidence for effectiveness and safety.
