Updates for Patient Groups

December 2015

Read Full Reports and Original Patient Input

If you’re interested in seeing how other groups have completed patient input templates, or want to know what’s contained in a CADTH Common Drug Review (CDR) clinical or pharmacoeconomic report, you can find that information on our website.

CADTH has published original patient input submissions (when permission has been granted) for more than 20 different drugs that have passed through CDR, with more to be shared in the near future.

For example, take a look at Harvoni for chronic hepatitis C, or subcutaneous Actemra for rheumatoid arthritis, or Kalydeco for cystic fibrosis. You’ll see the range of ways in which nine groups have completed the templates.

The clinical reports for all completed CADTH Therapeutic Reviews and reviews by the CADTH pan-Canadian Oncology Drug Review (pCODR) are published online. Patient input received is either posted as its own report or included in the clinical reports.

Thank-You Letters to Patient Groups

Once a review by CDR is complete, we thank the patient groups involved. Each group receives a letter highlighting specific ideas or experiences from the group’s input that CADTH reviewers and expert committee members found particularly useful during that review. CADTH’s patient engagement team also offers specific suggestions for groups to consider in any future submissions. We’ve reached out to 52 different patient groups so far, from all across Canada.

To gather the feedback included in the thank-you letters, we examine the clinical review report and listen to the expert committee discussion, and we may speak with review team members.

If you or your organization has any feedback for CADTH, from your experiences of providing patient input to us, we’d be happy to learn more. We also encourage you to reach out directly to us, if you have any questions about the CDR or pCODR process. Please feel free to contact us anytime.

More Support for Groups Contributing to pCODR

If you haven’t already seen these, check out the narrated slide presentations co-produced by Canadian Cancer Action Network (CCAN) and pCODR. The two videos outline pCODR’s process and offer guidance on how best to collect and present patient evidence.

Also see the information on the 2015 cancer drug pipeline, co-produced by CCAN and pCODR specifically for patient groups. The plain-language document identifies new cancer drugs and indications anticipated to arrive in Canada in future months.

Patient Input Submissions From Individual Patients and Caregivers

In October 2015, CADTH announced that in the limited instances where no Canadian patient group exists, individual patient and caregiver input will be accepted for CDR and pCODR programs. Typically, however, CADTH seeks input from patient groups, rather than from individuals, to encourage diversity of voices and experiences.

Individual patients and caregivers who wish to submit input for a drug review should first contact CADTH at [email protected] or [email protected] to confirm the absence of a relevant patient group. Where patient groups do exist, individual patients and caregivers are encouraged to work directly with a patient group so that their input can be included in the group’s submission.