CADTH Pharmaceutical Reviews Update — Issue 21

Update for Patients and Communities

If you are a patient group interested in providing input to a Reimbursement Review, you do not need to register with Canada's Drug Agency. As part of your submission, we ask that you describe your mandate, include a link to your website (or social media), and disclose any real, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest. This allows everyone to easily learn more about your organization and the perspectives your group brings.

In February, Canada's Drug Agency held a 2-part consultation for patient groups on its deliberative appraisal process. The first part was an education session, How Canada's Drug Agency Expert Committees Deliberate, which you can watch on CADTH’s YouTube page. The second part was a meeting between interested patient groups (35 attended), a few individuals, and Canada's Drug Agency staff. We want to thank each one of you who attended for sharing your ideas, knowledge, and time with us. We appreciate your willingness to participate and interest in enhancing the Canada's Drug Agency deliberative process.

Canada's Drug Agency Program Updates

1. Revised Target Dates for pERC Meetings

Beginning in August 2021, meetings of the pCODR Expert Review Committee (pERC) will be held on Wednesday as opposed to Thursday. This change is being introduced to allow Canada's Drug Agency to have a single process for finalizing and posting the recommendations (i.e., identical timelines for oncology and non-oncology drugs). The pERC meetings will continue to be held the week prior to the Canada's Drug Agency Canadian Drug Expert Committee (CDEC) meeting. This change is reflected in an updated schedule for Canada's Drug Agency expert review committees.

2. Revised Timelines for Posting Clinician Group Input

As previously communicated in Pharmaceutical Reviews Updates 19 and 20, Canada's Drug Agency is encountering challenges and delays in obtaining finalized input from clinician groups. The issues most commonly encountered include:

• Not using the designated clinician group input form
• Not completing the conflict of interest declaration
• Not working with other clinicians when preparing input

As a result of these challenges, Canada's Drug Agency is unable to post the clinician group input submissions at the same time as the patient group input submissions. Posting will be delayed until the next scheduled milestone for publishing stakeholder input submissions (i.e., at the time of posting the stakeholder feedback on the draft recommendations). Sponsors will have the opportunity to review the summary of clinician input when reviewing and commenting on the draft Canada's Drug Agency review reports. Canada's Drug Agency will continue to monitor the clinician group input process and working with the clinical community to ensure that the process is understood by those interested in participating. The timing of posting clinician input will be revisited once there are no further delays in obtaining finalized versions. The Procedures for Canada's Drug Agency Reimbursement Reviews have been updated to reflect this change.