Training @ Staburo: AMNOG and HTA

How beneficial are new drugs? This question gained more and more importance, after the German authorities introduced the AMNOG law in 2011, to restructure the market and the reimbursement system. Since then, it is obligatory that every new introduced medication runs through the process of an early benefit assessment, where at the end a decision is made, if there is a beneficial need for the new introduced drug. Based on this benefit, the market price of the product is negotiated.

The training was structured in two major parts. In the beginning, the whole process was shown with the major players in the process (like the G-BA and IQWiG) and the process of the early benefit assessment itself. Here, the relevant statistics topics where highlighted. Furthermore, the whole process was presented.

The second part was about the statistics workflow needed for analyses in module 4 of the dossier. Here, the mandatory endpoints, like survival and quality of life, where shown in combination with the analysis to perform to proof the benefit of the new drug. In addition to the analysis of the mandatory and supportive analysis, a short overview of the work package in statistics was presented, beginning with the planning of the confirmatory trial and the tasks during the whole process, until the decision about the benefit is made.

In the end of the presentation, recent decisions of the G-BA and the IQWiG were shown, also to highlight potential problems, which can occur during the process.

Staburo at the G-BA in Berlin

Josef Höfler from Staburo participated as statistical expert in an advisory meeting at the institution of “Gemeinsamer Bundesausschuss” in Berlin, in the context of health technology assessment.

The Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) is the highest decision-making body of the joint self-government of physicians, dentists, hospitals and health insurance funds in Germany.

It issues directives for the benefit catalogue of the statutory health insurance funds (GKV) for more than 73 million insured persons and thus specifies which services in medical care are reimbursed by the GKV.

Staburo Wiesn-Workshop 2019

It is a very nice custom to have our Staburo statistics training session on the first Monday of the two-week Oktoberfest period. This year, the Staburo team had the chance to learn about our new R shiny App in the first presentation “OTTO – Demonstration and Methodology”. OTTO stands for Optimal Tool for Tracking of Outliers. Afterwards we heard a talk about “Sample Size Calculation in Time-to-Event Trials with Non-Proportional Hazards Using GESTATE”, presented by our new colleague Jasmin.

After lunch, there where two more Talks, one about “Optimal Plate Layout for Relative Potency Estimation – A Simulation Study” and the last one from our new employee Armin about “Subgroup identification by generalized Patient Rule Induction Method (PRIM)”.

As always, this was a great opportunity to share knowledge with the whole Staburo team, get the chance to get to know the team better and to exchange ideas afterwards.

The second important custom is to pay the Oktoberfest (or also called “Wiesn”) a visit, after the workshop. Once again, we had a wonderful time with our growing team and some long-time Staburo clients.

Everyone got home safely – with additional knowledge from the workshop and positive vibes from the Oktoberfest. We are already looking forward to the Staburo “Wiesn” Workshop 2020 and thank all participants for making this a great team event!