About the Conference
A variety of pricing and reimbursement policies are used in different health care systems to ensure equitable access to medicines for all patients at affordable costs. However, millions of patients all over the world lack access to innovative treatments and medicines, and this has many different reasons. Access to medicines still remains a challenge in the twenty-first century, and policy-makers aim to balance the partially conflicting objectives of providing access to medicines, containing costs and rewarding innovation in pharmaceutical development. In recent years, some very expensive medicines have entered the markets, putting the long-term financial sustainability of health systems at risk. In this context, the design of the pricing and reimbursement policies is key: innovative approaches are needed to tackle the medicine access challenge!
In order to foster the debate on equitable access to affordable and cost-effective medicines, the following perspectives will be discussed at the conference:
- Strand 1: Local challenges, global learnings? What can other countries learn from best-practice examples in the field of pricing and reimbursement of medicines?
- Strand 2: ‘Fake’ prices – Are price surveys still useful? The value of list prices against the backdrop of external price referencing and managed entry agreements.
- Strand 3: Fix the future? Innovative policy options need to be developed, agreed upon and implemented.
The conference aims to bring together thought leaders from around the globe to discuss ‘burning’ issues in pricing and reimbursement policies of medicines – both from a global as well as European perspective. Current challenges and opportunities will be discussed, in particular limitations and improvement of current policies and innovative options for the future.
The WHO Collaborating Centre for Pharmaceutical Pricing and Reimbursement Policies in Vienna invites you to take part in the discussions with renowned experts and high-level representatives in the pharmaceutical field.
Objectives
We are committed to contribute to affordable, equitable and sustainable access to safe, effective and quality essential medicines worldwide, with a focus on Austria and Europe, thus, we are pleased to provide a platform for thought leaders, experts and researchers in the pharmaceutical field:
- to present research findings and on-the-frontier academic analyses and to showcase best practice examples of pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement policies
- to discuss current challenges and develop strategies to tackle them
- to support policy-makers by offering tools to be well prepared and equipped to address the challenges of the future.
Who should attend the conference?
- Public authorities responsible pricing and reimbursement of medicines (policy makers, administration)
- Payers in the health care system (e.g. social health insurance , ministries, medicines agencies, private health insurance institutions)
- Researchers, academics, students
- Patients and consumers and their associations
- Health professionals (e.g. physicians, pharmacists) and their associations
- Economic actors (e.g. pharmaceutical companies and their associations)
- Editors, journalists
For further information, please click on the links below!