CERGAS Seminar "Improving access to affordable medicines: Activities of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Pharmaceutical Pricing and Reimbursement Policies"

Equitable and sustainable access to medicines has become a challenge globally, including for high-income countries. Pricing, procurement and reimbursement policies can contribute to (more) affordable medicine prices for public payers and for patients. However, policy-makers may need to balance the trade-off of potentially conflicting policy objectives, including offering incentives to industry.

Experts of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Pharmaceutical Pricing and Reimbursement Policies affiliated to the Pharmacoeconomics Department at the Austrian National Public Health Institute (Gesundheit Österreich GmbH / GÖG) have been conducting research on policy-related topics regarding access to medicines (e.g., international price studies, policy evaluations), advising international institutions and Member States (e.g., that aimed to introduce or adapt policies) and offering capacity-building activities for technical experts of public authorities.

Working for and with policy-makers is a major activity of the Centre. For nearly two decades, the Pharmaceutical Pricing and Reimbursement Information (PPRI) network has been offering a platform for policy-makers and staff of public authorities to share information and experiences on policy implementation. The PPRI network, which comprises nearly 100 institutions (public authorities from 50 countries, as well as European and international institutions), was co-founded and is managed by the GÖG team.

In this seminar, Sabine Vogler will present the research and networking activities of the Pharmacoeconomics Department and the affiliated WHO Collaborating Centre, including recent studies on price transparency, public procurement of medicines, cross-country collaborations (such as the Beneluxa Initiative) and – moving beyond medicines – medical devices.

Speaker: Sabine Vogler

Sabine Vogler is head of the Pharmacoeconomics Department of the Austrian National Public Health Institute (Gesundheit Österreich GmbH / GÖG) and Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Pharmaceutical Pricing and Reimbursement Policies affiliated to the Pharmacoeconomics Department. She graduated in commerce from the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration and earned her PhD in social and economic sciences from the same university. She is habilitated as Associate Professor for Economic Policy in line with the Italian National Scientific Habilitation regulation. Sabine Vogler is a senior health economist and pharmaceutical policy researcher with over 25 years’ experience of surveying, comparing and evaluating pharmaceutical policies as well as measuring and analysing access, affordability and availability of medicines. She has in-depth knowledge on European countries with regard to pharmaceutical pricing / prices, reimbursement, procurement and distribution. Sabine coordinated numerous national and European research projects and (co-) authored around 180 Austrian, European and international studies and reports, including many peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals. She has been involved in WHO committees, such as the Expert Panels of the WHO Guideline on Country Pharmaceutical Pricing Policies. In 2017, she was a Visiting Fellow at the Department of Economics at the University of Bologna. She has been lecturing at the Economics Department of the University of Bologna and at the Department of Health Care Management of the Berlin Technical University. For more information on her profile and the activities of her group see: ppri.goeg.at/.

Link zoom: https://unibocconi-it.zoom.us/j/98114817915?pwd=dmpUcC8zWUJnYzhuM3BQMEQ3MmxnUT09

Meeting ID: 981 1481 7915

Passcode: 149494

For those willing to participate in person, please write to erica.dugnani@sdabocconi.it before Thursday, February 9th.