Global Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Tracking service
Abacus International has specialised in HTA since the foundation of NICE in 1999. Maintaining significantly higher than average approval rates is important to us as we market our services based on our experience and success with HTA.
Abacus International therefore make it our business to understand what drives a successful HTA submission. We have conducted several projects assessing the impact of HTA on market access and product uptake. We have also published on the relationship between the evidence submitted and eventual HTA outcome. (Dakin HA, Devlin NJ, Odeyemi IA. “Yes”, “No” or “Yes, but”? Multinomial modelling of NICE decision-making. Health Policy 2006; 77(3): 352–67)
Internationally, pharmaceutical and medical device companies are increasingly being required to establish that technologies are both clinically effective and cost effective in order to achieve reimbursement and market access and this demand is set to increase.
If you have a drug entering a new market in any country worldwide, it is now prudent to understand HTA processes and decision making and maximise your approach for HTA submission. One of the ways that this can be done is to monitor and track international HTA decisions in the disease area of interest.
What you can learn from global HTA tracking
- What are the challenges for your drug in international HTA?
- What are the benchmarks of clinical effectiveness and cost effectiveness thresholds driving approval?
- What are other healthcare companies doing to achieve successful HTA, market access and reimbursement ?
- What are the pitfalls of other company activities in these areas?
- What clinical and cost effectiveness claims are other companies making?
- Are there any forthcoming drugs that are of particular concern to market share for your drug?
- What does this research mean in terms of additions needed to the clinical trial programme/evidence base for your drug?
Why is Abacus International suited to your HTA tracking needs?
- HTA is a major business focus for Abacus International
- We have a wealth of experience in producing international HTA submissions
- We have a history of research into factors impacting success of HTA submissions
- The information on global HTA is disparate and time consuming to navigate, however Abacus International:
- Knows where and how to look systematically for relevant information
- Keeps up-to-date with the evolving global HTA environment and processes
- Will get non-English language sources translated quickly and efficiently
- Knows how to interpret the data presented and to ask the appropriate questions
- Will work on presentation of the data that is clear, concise, easy to navigate and analyse
- Will not just report what was found, but will interpret this to provide recommendations and key learnings for your drug
- Will always seek to maximise the use of the research for your purposes

HTA tracking process
The approach can be tailored to specifically meet your needs, however typically:
- In a feasibility stage, Abacus International will work with you to define the questions you want answered and will identify the appropriate data sources.
- In the data extraction phase, Abacus International will extract information on what was submitted to HTA boards of interest, how this was received, the pros and cons of competitor approaches and the key learnings.
- In the gap analysis phase, Abacus International will survey local experts to fill any gaps in the research obtained from publically available sources
- In the reporting phase, Abacus international will produce a report and presentation containing detailed analysis on factors which impact HTA success and rejection.
- In the surveillance phase, Abacus International will send out interim update reports regarding up-to-date changes in the HTA climate for your disease area of interest and will work on quarterly updates of reports, data extraction tables and presentations as required.