EUnetHTA’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic
Today, EUnetHTA - European Network for Health Technology Assessment - has launched its COVID-19-related repository of publications and outputs. This repository responds to one of the follow-up actions to the Commission Communication on “Guidelines on COVID-19 in vitro diagnostic tests and their performance”, and is linked to the database
recently set up by JRC devoted to testing devices. The repository
gathers publications by EUnetHTA and by HTA organisations on testing
methods and devices, treatment options, and other public health measures
relevant to COVID-19.
The repository also includes the first EUnetHTA Report on COVID-19, the ‘Rapid
Collaborative Review on the role of antibody tests for novel
coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 in the management of the current pandemic’
that has recently been finalised. This report provides consistent
results on diagnostic accuracy estimates and on the strong dependency of
these estimates on time since the onset of symptoms, and makes specific
and explicit references to the correct use of test results and to the
impact they have on the individuals and on public health for a
comprehensive risk-benefit evaluation.
Reports on potential treatments for COVID-19 are also of interest for
HTA bodies. By conducting ‘Rolling Collaborative Reviews’, EUnetHTA’s
experts monitor the development of evidence on COVID-19 treatments
(ongoing trials) and continuously assess incoming data in the form of a
living document. This format responds to “acute” needs expressed by
policy makers, and aims to facilitate the development of HTA reports to
be carried out either by EUnetHTA or individual agencies.
Background:
The COVID-19 pandemic requires policy makers and public health
authorities to make difficult decisions, often under conditions of
uncertainty and under time pressure. In these special circumstances,
researched, timely and reliable information is essential for developing a
suitable coordinated response to the pandemic. With this in mind,
EUnetHTAhas taken the decision to mobilise its resource and prioritise
COVID-19-related initiatives above other work for the next twelve
months.
EUnetHTA Joint Action 3 is the scientific and technical component of
EU cooperation on HTA. It was launched in June 2016, and runs until June
2021. The Joint Action is co-funded by the EU Health Programme and
includes government appointed organisations and a large number of
relevant regional agencies and not-for-profit organisations that produce
or contribute to HTA in Europe (i.e. 86 organisations from 26 Member
States plus Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Ukraine and United Kingdom).
For more information:
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