On Thursday 12 January 2023, the Heads of HTA Agencies Group came together for their fourth face-to-face meeting. The meeting was hosted by the National Authority of Medicines and Health Products (INFARMED) in Lisbon, Portugal.
The meeting featured a number of key strategic topics including:
- The confirmation of Prof. Jan Frich as the new Vice-Chair of the HAG. Prof. Frich’s appointment is a continuation of NIPH’s (Norway) role in the HAG.
- The HTA Regulation (HTAR). The European Commission (DG SANTE) provided an update on the status of the HTAR and the work of the HTA Coordination Group (HTACG). This was followed by a discussion amongst members on:
- Subgroups within the HTACG and how members can work together to achieve efficiency gains whilst maintaining a strategic outlook.
- The status of HTAR implementation within each Member State and any challenges they are facing.
- Long-term strategic planning for the HAG.
- How HTA bodies could establish training and capacity-building resources such as the EU Network Training Centre.
- Updates from a number of working groups and topic leads. Members of the HAG heard updates from the HAG Communication, Capacity-Building and Roles and Responsibilities working groups.
Members of the HAG also welcomed DHTC (Denmark), DMC (Denmark), NCPR (Bulgaria), NIPN (Hungary), SMCA (Lithuania) and ZVA (Latvia) to their first HAG meeting.
The next HAG meeting will take place in Stockholm, Sweden in May 2023.
