ICER Indefinitely Postpones Public Meetings for Sickle Cell Disease as well as Cystic Fibrosis; ICER Expands Other Assessment Timelines Up to Three Months

— Updated schedules are intended to enable participating clinical experts and patient advocates to focus on caring for their communities during COVID-19 pandemic —

BOSTON, March 18, 2020 – The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) today announced several changes to its timelines for upcoming assessments. ICER’s review process involves significant engagement across a variety of external stakeholders — health care providers, life sciences companies, health insurers, and patient advocacy groups — the same types of organizations that are on the front line of preparing for and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are hopeful these expanded timeframes will enable all stakeholders to instead focus on meeting the needs of their patient communities during this national emergency.

Key changes to ongoing ICER reviews include:

• Sickle Cell Disease: ICER will indefinitely postpone the public meeting, which was previously scheduled for March 26.
• Cystic Fibrosis (CF): ICER will indefinitely postpone the public meeting, which was previously scheduled for April 30. ICER is extending the public comment period on the CF Draft Evidence Report to March 25, and we plan to publish the revised CF Evidence Report on or about April 23.
• Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH): After ICER publishes the NASH Draft Evidence Report on March 19, all additional deadlines and public input opportunities will be pushed back approximately 2-3 months.
• Ulcerative Colitis (UC): ICER will publish its UC Draft Evidence Report on April 15. All additional deadlines and public input opportunities will be pushed back approximately 2-3 months.
• Supervised Injection Facilities: ICER had already prepared for this assessment to last two months longer than a typical ICER review, so no schedule updates are needed at this time.
• Other ICER reviews — including Bladder Cancer, Digital Apps for Opioid Use Disorder, and Hemophilia A — will all be paused now, to resume in 2-3 months.

Updated tentative timelines for each assessment will be available on the ICER website in the coming days.

About ICER

The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) is an independent non-profit research institute that produces reports analyzing the evidence on the effectiveness and value of drugs and other medical services. ICER’s reports include evidence-based calculations of prices for new drugs that accurately reflect the degree of improvement expected in long-term patient outcomes, while also highlighting price levels that might contribute to unaffordable short-term cost growth for the overall health care system.

ICER’s reports incorporate extensive input from all stakeholders and are the subject of public hearings through three core programs: the California Technology Assessment Forum (CTAF), the Midwest Comparative Effectiveness Public Advisory Council (Midwest CEPAC), and the New England Comparative Effectiveness Public Advisory Council (New England CEPAC). These independent panels review ICER’s reports at public meetings to deliberate on the evidence and develop recommendations for how patients, clinicians, insurers, and policymakers can improve the quality and value of health care. For more information about ICER, please visit ICER’s website.