HTA Methods Guide – On November 28, 2024, Canada’s Drug Agency (CDA) launched a consultation on its first-ever methods guide. The consultation seeks stakeholder input to enhance the methods guide, which describes the methods for conducting a health technology assessment (HTA) and focuses on the appraisal of the clinical evidence for a drug.
While CDA’s methods guide will be a “living document”, updated periodically in consultation with users as scientific methods evolve, the guide currently aims to:
- highlight the types of clinical evidence that can inform the comparative effectiveness and potential harms of a drug product;
- identify key methods and their use in the evaluation of clinical evidence for drug products submitted for HTA (reimbursement review);
- facilitate the generation and reporting of the clinical evidence by drug sponsors; and
- provide transparency in how CDA’s reviewers appraise and report on the assessment of clinical evidence.
Stakeholders can provide feedback until January 28, 2025.
Appropriate Use Coalition – On December 2, 2024, 11 organizations announced they would work collectively to improve the appropriate prescribing and use of medications in Canada, with CDA acting as the Coalition’s secretariat. Appropriate use of medications as defined includes patients taking medications ideal for their needs and goals, provide optimal benefit, and avoid potential harm.
The Coalition's focus is to “share information and evidence, reduce duplication among different appropriate use programs across the country, and collaborate on key projects to achieve more together than could alone.”
The Coalition has two subgroups:
- Long-term care – addressing the potentially inappropriate use of antipsychotic medications in long-term care.
- Primary care – coordinating the sharing of resources on antimicrobial resistance in primary care.