The 16th International Pharmacoeconomic Conference was organized by the Polish Pharmacoeconomic Society in November 2018.

This time the Conference was focused on the HTA development. What are the challenges, practical solutions and expected benefits?

Among other topics there were interesting discussions about drug policy in relation to the current legal situation, financing of rare diseases and e-health.

The opening session was dedicated to drug policy and the discussion was based on the thesis that effective, safe and rational pharmacotherapy is one of the foundations of an effective health care system. However the practical effects of the implementation were also discussed including an objective evaluation of the potential effects of its application.

The second session during the first day of the conference was dedicated to the future assessment of health technologies in the light of the proposals for new regulations and new financial solutions in the EU.

The second day was dedicated to rare diseases followed by a special JHPOR session and a special discussion about new tools and practical use of HTA. The conference also allowed students to share their work with the audience.

During the rare diseases session the approach towards assessment and reimbursement of the treatments in Europe was shared by different speakers. Steven Simoens from Belgium talk was about how to reimburse and to pay for orphan drugs for rare diseases. This was followed by Polish speakers representing the clinical perspective, HTA agency, Ministry of Health, patients view and the legal status.

The JHPOR session was moderated by prof. Karina Jahnz-Różyk, the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Health Policy & Outcomes Research and the review of the JHPOR publications along with the development strategy of the journal were shared.

Additionally a review of the current status of RWE in Europe was presented and a special topic was atopic dermatitis and its cost analysis.