AstraZeneca supports effective and appropriate measures to increase healthcare quality and control healthcare costs.
AstraZeneca is committed to ensuring that patients and physicians have the best information available to support treatment decisions. In support of that commitment, AstraZeneca conducts comparative effectiveness research (CER) as part of our product development and ongoing research.
Background
Although not a new practice, Congress and other important stakeholders recently have expressed increased interest in CER. While there is no standard definition of CER, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recently developed a draft definition that generally defines CER as the practice of exploring which medical interventions work best for whom, and under what circumstances.
This is accomplished by comparing a healthcare intervention (drug, device, or procedure) to other interventions with the same treatment goal, often in actual clinical practice settings.
Interest in CER is fueled by the belief that it will improve care and reduce healthcare costs by providing patients, providers and payers the comparative value of therapies.
What we believe
AstraZeneca believes that CER that centers on high priority research questions can benefit patients and the healthcare system in general. We also believe:
- High-quality comparative effectiveness research should focus on the patient/physician interaction across all healthcare services, while recognizing the individual nature of patient response to therapy.
- CER should be applied across a broad range of healthcare interventions.
- CER should be effectively applied to care delivery rather than focused solely on cost control.
- Research priorities should be set to ensure that studies are focused on treatment options with the greatest opportunity for quality improvement and cost savings.
Without such a considered approach, CER’s potential will not be realized,
and the results of such research could ultimately harm patients and stifle critical healthcare innovation.
