CADTH Pharmaceutical Reviews Update — Issue 45

Program Updates

1. Piloting the Addition of New Perspectives Economic Evaluations of New Drugs 

We are testing a new approach that brings the societal perspective to our economic evaluation of certain new drugs.  

CADTH will consider societal perspectives for drugs reviewed through the complex review process effective for newly received applications targeting the December 2024 expert committee meetings (i.e., oncology files received on or after June 25, 2024 or non-oncology files received on or after July 10, 2024). Applications reviewed through the complex process will continue to be accepted for review without including a societal perspective until October 1, 2024. After this date, the inclusion of a societal will be required, or the sponsor will need to provide a rationale for why it is not included. Read our announcement for complete details. 

2. Consultation on Updated Procedures for Provisional Funding Algorithms

We are updating the procedures for provisional funding algorithms as part of commitment to examine new ways of working and our ongoing efforts to improve the drug reimbursement pathway.

The provisional algorithm process is used to give advice to drug programs when they have indicated a need to harmonize the place in therapy for the funding of the drug under review relative to alternative treatments that are currently reimbursed by the public drug programs. The process helps to determine the impact of new therapies on the existing reimbursement sequence.  

The goal of the consultation is to gather stakeholder feedback on aspects of the draft updated procedures. Feedback from stakeholders will be used to amend the procedures before a final version is published in May 2024. Read our announcement to access the draft procedures and for complete details on how to participate. The consultation period will be open from March 28 to April 26, 2024.

3. Updated Fees for CADTH Pharmaceutical Reviews

CADTH has updated the Fee Schedule for CADTH Pharmaceutical Reviews. The adjusted fees for all applications will come into effect on April 1, 2024. The updated document includes the annual fee adjustment based on the Consumer Price Index.

4. Update: Budget Impact Analysis Tool

On January 25, we posted a draft budget impact analysis (BIA) tool for consultation. We received feedback from more than 22 unique groups, including industry, consultants, and public sector organizations. We are reviewing the feedback and aim to publish a final version of the tool in May 2024. A reminder that the BIA tool is a template that drug sponsors may use to prepare their budget impact analyses submitted to CADTH, but they are not required to use this template.