The California Technology Assessment Forum (CTAF), a core program of the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), will hold a public meeting in February 2016 to discuss the comparative effectiveness and value of a drug for patients with diabetes (type 1 and type 2) and another drug for patients with severe eosinophilic asthma. The diabetes drug, insulin degludec (Tresiba®, Novo Nordisk), is a long-acting basal insulin that patients inject once per day. The asthma drug, mepolizumab (Nucala®, GlaxoSmithKline), is a once-monthly injectable monoclonal antibody against interleukin-5 (IL-5). The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to issue decisions on approval for insulin degludec and mepolizumab as early as October and November 2015, respectively. The CTAF Panel will review these interventions given the magnitude of their potential clinical and economic impact on the care of patients with diabetes and asthma.
ICER will produce reports that include systematic reviews of the published evidence and an economic analysis for each drug. The reports will also feature a value-based price benchmark for each drug derived from an analysis of comparative cost-effectiveness relative to the current standard of care and the potential short-term budgetary impact for health systems. The reports will form the basis for deliberation and discussion at the public meeting, where the CTAF Panel will vote on key questions raised in the report, and a policy roundtable will discuss evidence-based practice and policy recommendations.
A preliminary scoping document will be posted on the CTAF website for public comment in October 2015. After the scoping document is posted, stakeholders will have one week to submit suggestions and refinements to ensure that the report provides a comprehensive analysis of the considerations and issues of greatest importance. A full timeline of key dates for the review will be posted alongside the scoping document within the next several weeks.
Meeting details and registration information will be posted to the CTAF website as they become available.