From the article:
The Center for Global Development (CGD) has some advice for the World Health Organization on transparency and access in respect of HTA. After taking a look at the WHO’s technical report on cancer-drug pricing, the CGD reckons the United Nation’shealth body should focus on HTAto improve access to cancer treatments, as opposed to throwing all its efforts into increasing transparency. The expert-led paper, entitled ‘It’s the demand side, stupid!’, says increasing cost transparency could actually reduce access to much-needed cancer drugs.
It puts forward six priorities for the WHO, and these include helping low and middle-income countries build up their HTA and expand value-based pricing, supporting efforts to improve evidence generation to inform HTA, focusing on “effective procurement” and market competition.
In its conclusion, the paper states: “Effective management of the demand side is a far more effective way to get R&D that meets patient and health system needs than seeking to restructure R&D.”
