Institute for Clinical and Economic Review Releases New Draft Evidence Report Using hēRo3℠ Health Economics Modeling Platform

Business Wire

Use of hēRo3℠ Platform by Drug Pricing Watchdog Following Conclusion of Pilot Transparency Initiative Confirms ICER’s Commitment to Cloud-Based Tools

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Policy Analysis Inc. (PAI), a Boston-based health-economics consultancy, today announced that the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) has released its first draft evidence report using PAI’s new web-based economic modeling platform, hēRo3, since successfully concluding its pilot transparency initiative earlier this year. ICER’s new evidence review focuses on the use of oral Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

ICER, which is best known as the nation’s independent watchdog on drug pricing, began testing hēRo3 in early 2018, culminating in the organization’s first-ever use of the new modeling platform in a formal evidence review. ICER also used hēRo3 to share its model with manufacturers as a “live” online web app; sharing of models via secure web portals is another innovative feature of the platform.

“In addition to saving us substantial time that we otherwise would spend building models in Excel, we think that hēRo3 will help us advance our ongoing initiative to further modeling transparency,” said Richard Chapman, Ph.D., Director of Health Economics for ICER.

The hēRo3 modeling platform lets users develop and run cost-effectiveness models for new medicines online in substantially less time than typically required when building models from scratch in Excel. In late 2018, ICER announced that it would expand its use of the hēRo3 platform to support its internal modeling needs and to aid in the validation of models developed by ICER’s external partners. In May 2019, the organization also announced that it planned to expand its use of cloud-based tools and applications. ICER’s use of hēRo3 in its latest evidence review would appear to confirm the organization’s commitment to online modeling tools, and to its use of this particular platform as part of this strategy.

“We are pleased that ICER decided to use hēRo3 again in a new evidence review, as the organization is unquestionably the most important and influential health-technology assessment group in the U.S.,” said Gerry Oster, Ph.D., Managing Partner of PAI. “ICER’s decision to use hēRo3 in the JAK inhibitor review for RA tells us that this new modeling platform is continuing to meet important needs, and confirms our investment in and commitment to it.”

About hēRo3

hēRo3℠ is a new, secure, web-based, modeling platform that was launched in mid-2018, following months of extensive pilot testing. hēRo3 allows users to build cost-effectiveness models online, and then run and share them as private "live" web apps. All calculations in hēRo3 are performed using an open-source modeling package in the programming language, R, that runs in a virtual private cloud hosted by Amazon Web Services. By automating many tasks that are usually programmed from scratch when models are built using spreadsheet software, hēRo3 significantly reduces the amount of time it takes to develop cost-effectiveness models for new drugs. These models are often used by manufacturers to provide formal evidence to decision makers about the value of new prescription drugs, medical tests, and other interventions; they also are used by insurers and healthcare authorities in their deliberations about whether to cover new drugs, and how much to pay manufacturers for them. In addition to ICER, more than a dozen biopharma companies are now using hēRo3 to transform the way they develop economic models for new product planning, pricing, reimbursement, and market access.

About the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER)

The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) is an independent and non-partisan research organization that objectively evaluates the clinical and economic value of prescription drugs, medical tests, and other health care and health care delivery innovations. Founded in 2006, ICER conducts rigorous analyses of all clinical data and publicly convenes key stakeholders--including patients, doctors, life science companies, private insurers, and the government--to translate this evidence into policy decisions that lead to a more effective, efficient, and just health care system.

About Policy Analysis Inc. (PAI)

Policy Analysis Inc. (PAI) is a 46-year old, independent, health-economics consultancy, located in Brookline, MA, that is an industry leader in the fields of pharmacoeconomics, outcomes research, quality-of-life assessment, pharmacoepidemiology, and health technology assessment.