Authors' objectives: The term "access to medicines" was, until a few years ago, associated with the discussion surrounding cheaper (generic) vital drugs (HIV, tuberculosis, etc.) in developing countries. For some time, Western countries and institutions (OECD, European Commission, etc.) have also begun to focus on "access to medicines" in an attempt to counteract "unsustainable" drug prices. Expenditure on research and development (R&D) is mostly used by manufacturers as a justification for high prices. The real -resource consuming and high risk- basic research takes place mainly in the public sector (in universities and corresponding publicly funded research institutions) instead. Little publicised knowledge on public spending, however, exists so far. The project objective is to collect information on public contributions to drug research and development and thus contribute to the discussion on "Return on Investment of Public Investment".

Authors' results and conclusions: The research on public and philanthropic R&D funding proved to be very time consuming. Obstacles were a lack of transparency in the various databases and sources and/or complexity of the search filters (narrowing the search period and distinguishing between basic research and product development research) as well as language barriers. The search strategies had to be adapted individually; the results vary greatly. Further piloting such as a refinement of the search strategy is underway.

Authors' methods: The project was carried out in two stages: in Phase 1, a methodology (search strategy and sources) was developed to systematically identify the contribution of public research funding to the development of new drugs. In Phase 2, the methodology of the Phase 1 analytical approach was piloted using three selected paediatric Orphan Drugs (Spinraza®, Brineura®, Crysvita®), which were approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in 2017.

Project Status: Completed

URL for project: https://aihta.at/page/arzneimittelforschung-und-deren-oeffentliche-finanzierung/en

Year Published: 2019

URL for published report: http://eprints.aihta.at/1214/1/HTA-Projektbericht_Nr.120.pdf

URL for additional information: http://eprints.aihta.at/1214/

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Full HTA

Country: Austria

Organisation Name: Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Health Technology Assessment

Contact Address: Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for fuer Health Technology Assessment (LBI-HTA), Garnisongasse 7/rechte Stiege Mezzanin (Top 20), 1090 Vienna, Austria. Tel: +43 1 236 8119 - 0 Fax: +43 1 236 8119 - 99

Contact Name: tarquin.mittermayr@aihta.at

Contact Email: office@aihta.at