Growing Support for HTA in Light of High Gene Therapy Costs

An independent review board, such as ICER, responsible for assessing appropriate costs for therapies and drugs has been discussed for years. Calls for such a health technology assessment board (HTA) are increasing as many note that novel cell and gene-based therapies, while many times effective, are also expensive—sometimes prohibitively so.

According to former MedPAC commissioner Kathy Buto, “[A centralized US HTA] is something that the pharma industry has really not wanted to see because it’s the idea of a single entity making judgments about the value or cost effectiveness of new technologies. But if ever there was a poster child for that kind of entity [cell and gene therapy] might be it.” Read more here.

(Source: Cathy Kelly, Pink Sheet, Informa, 2/11/21)