— New members’ broad leadership experience — spanning biomedical policymaking and consumer advocacy for aging populations — will help guide ICER in its mission to achieve a health system in which all patients benefit from fair pricing, fair access, and future innovation —  

BOSTON, November 2, 2020 – The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) today announced the election of Leigh Purvis, MPA, Director of Health Care Costs and Access in AARP’s Public Policy Institute, to ICER’s Governance Board. In addition, ICER’s Advisory Board will be joined by Mark McClellan, MD, PhD, founding Director of the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy at Duke University, who in the past has served as both Commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

“We are proud to announce this expansion of our boards with the addition of two leaders who have dedicated their careers to making the US health care system work better for patients,” said Steven Pearson, MD, MSc, President of ICER. “They share with us the sense that ICER’s role as an independent, objective source of evidence is critical to help support more transparent health care policy decisions. Together, their combined expertise and guidance will strengthen ICER’s ability to help the US health system provide high-value care that all Americans can afford.”

Ms. Purvis said, “Our nation’s approach to prescription drug pricing and coverage is broken, and it has been particularly burdensome for older Americans who need affordable, easy access to their medicines. I strongly support ICER’s efforts to promote fair pricing and fair access within the US health system, and I’m excited to help strengthen the consumer perspective that guides their work.”

Dr. McClellan added, “Getting better evidence to guide health care pricing and coverage is a critical for improving health care and health, and ICER is playing an increasingly impactful role through its independent evidence reviews in assessing evidence and gaps. ICER can accelerate the development and use of evidence to advance high-value innovation that benefits patients. I look forward to engaging further on these and other critical issues related to ICER’s growing impact on a wide variety of policies and programs.”

While ICER’s Governance Board and Advisory Board both provide important strategic counsel to ICER’s leadership team, the Governance Board also maintains fiduciary responsibility for the organization’s overall operations.

Biographies of New Members

Leigh Purvis, MPA, is the Director of Health Care Costs and Access in AARP’s Public Policy Institute (PPI). She leads a team of policy analysts and researchers who work on health care issues that are relevant to the 50+ population. In addition, Ms. Purvis heads PPI’s work on prescription drug issues. Her primary areas of expertise are prescription drug pricing, biologic drugs, and prescription drug coverage under Medicare. She is a coauthor of the AARP Public Policy Institute’s annual Rx Price Watch reports, which track price trends for prescription drugs widely used by older Americans.

Ms. Purvis joined AARP in 2005 as a senior policy research analyst. Prior to her tenure at AARP, she worked for the American Psychological Association. Ms. Purvis has an MPA with a concentration in health administration and policy from George Mason University and a BS in psychology from the University of Mary Washington. She also holds a certificate in gerontology from the University of Washington.

Mark McClellan, MD, PhD, is the Robert J. Margolis Professor of Business, Medicine, and Policy, and Director of the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy at Duke University. The Center supports and conducts research, evaluation, implementation, and educational activities to improve health policy and health, through collaboration across Duke University and Health System, and through partnerships between the public and private sectors. It integrates the social, clinical, and analytical sciences to integrate technical expertise and practical capabilities to develop and apply policy solutions that improve health and the value of health care locally, nationally, and worldwide.

Dr. McClellan is a former administrator of CMS and former commissioner of the FDA, where he developed and implemented major reforms in health policy. These include the Medicare prescription drug benefit, the FDA’s Critical Path Initiative, and public-private initiatives to develop better information on the quality and cost of care. Dr. McClellan chairs the FDA’s Reagan-Udall Foundation, is co-chair of the Quality Alliance Steering Committee, sits on the National Quality Forum’s Board of Directors, is a member of the Institute of Medicine, and is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He previously served as a member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers and senior director for health care policy at the White House, and he was an associate professor of economics and medicine at Stanford University.

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.