EUnetHTA’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic
date: 15/09/2020
EUnetHTA has recently published its first “rolling collaborative reviews” for 14 pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical (e.g. convalescent plasma) therapies available for COVID-19. These reviews - inspired by the rolling reviews developed by the European Medicines Agency but for HTA purposes - are the result of continuous monitoring of ongoing clinical trials and studies investigating the safety and efficacy of existing therapies in COVID-19 patients. These publications are living documents, aiming to provide up-to-date information to health decision-makers at national/regional/European level, to facilitate the development of HTA reports to be carried out either by EUnetHTA or individual agencies, and to support preparations for evidence-based purchasing if necessary.
In parallel, EUnetHTA has started the procedure for a joint assessment on Remdesivir, the first EU authorised medicinal product for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
Concerning testing, following the publication on 23 June 2020 of its first joint collaborative review on the role of antibody tests, EUnetHTA’s experts finalised the project plan for a similar report on diagnostic accuracy of molecular tests for the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which will be available by 20 October 2020. All these reports will be regularly updated based on the latest scientific developments.
Background:
EUnetHTA Joint Action 3 is the scientific and technical component of EU cooperation on HTA. It was launched in June 2016, and runs until June 2021. The Joint Action is co-funded by the EU Health Programme and includes government appointed organisations and a large number of relevant regional agencies and not-for-profit organisations that produce or contribute to HTA in Europe (i.e. 86 organisations from 26 Member States plus Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Ukraine and United Kingdom).
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