Gachon University Reports Findings in Pharmacoeconomics (A Review of Utility Measurement Methods Used in Pharmacoeconomic Submissions to HIRA in South Korea: Methodological Consistency and Areas for Improvement)

2021 AUG 10 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at South Korea Daily Report -- New research on Economics - Pharmacoeconomics is the subject of a report. According to news reporting originating in Seongnam, South Korea, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Pharmacoeconomic (PE) guidelines, first published in 2006 and later updated in 2011, were developed to guide the preparation and submission of PE data to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) for drug reimbursement decision making in South Korea. This study, which was conducted as part of a project for revision of the PE guideline, reviewed utility values used in the PE submissions processed at HIRA during 2014-2018 to identify aspects of the current guidelines that may need to be revisited.”

Financial support for this research came from Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service.

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from Gachon University, “A total of 50 PE submissions were processed at HIRA over the 5 years. Of these, 47 submissions that used quality-adjusted life-years as an outcome measure were included in this review. Data were extracted from full copies of the manufacturer’s initial submissions and committee documents provided by HIRA. Of the 47 submissions, nearly half (n = 23, 48.9%) used published sources to obtain health state utility values, followed by direct methods using time trade-off (n = 7) or standard gamble (n = 2) and indirect methods with patient-level data using the EQ-5D-3L (n = 4) or the EQ-5D-5L (n = 2). Mapping, using the EQ-5D-3L as a target measure, was also adopted in six submissions, although it was somewhat unfavourably described in the guideline. Notably, 52.2% of the submissions with published sources took utility values from different sources for different health states defined in a single model. In addition, details of utility measurement methods or mapping functions taken from published sources were relatively poorly reported. Moreover, the preferences of the Korean general public, preferred by the guideline, were rarely reflected in the utility values used in submissions relying on published sources (95.7% for foreign values only/mixed) and mapping (66.7%). While most submissions with direct and indirect methods used domestic preference values, the former was occasionally criticised by assessment committees because of health state descriptions.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “This review highlights a considerable amount of inconsistency in the measurement of utility values used in the PE submissions during 2014-2018, indicating a strong need for methodological standardisation.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: A Review of Utility Measurement Methods Used in Pharmacoeconomic Submissions to HIRA in South Korea: Methodological Consistency and Areas for Improvement. PharmacoEconomics, 2021. PharmacoEconomics can be contacted at: Adis Int Ltd, 5 The Warehouse Way, Northcote 0627, Auckland, New Zealand.

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Jihyung Hong, Dept. of Healthcare Management, College of Social Science, Gachon University, Seongnam, 13120, South Korea.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40273-021-01066-x. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

The publisher of the journal PharmacoEconomics can be contacted at: Adis Int Ltd, 5 The Warehouse Way, Northcote 0627, Auckland, New Zealand.

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