Prof. Dr. Lieven Annemans
- Prof. Dr. Lieven Annemans has participated in more than 400 health economic evaluations in over 20 countries across a wide spectrum of therapeutic areas. He has also been involved as an expert in a large number of Health Technology Assessments (HTAs) and is actively involved in HTA on a European level.
- A unique profile: academic professor, past-president of ISPOR, advisor to policy makers, trainer and consultant.
- Highly respected for his vast international and cross-therapeutic experience, Lieven is a much sought-after advisor and educator to health policy makers and the innovative healthcare industry.
- Author of Health economics for non-economists (Pelckmans Pro, 2018).
Learn
- The full meaning of QALYs and ICERs, two key measures in cost-effectiveness studies, and how to calculate them.
- The challenges with the QALY, especially in particular diseases, and how these can be addressed.
- How payers in different countries apply ICER thresholds that are used to select candidates for reimbursement.
- The logic and maths of commonly used models that health economists use to simulate treatment outcomes and to predict and compare the cost-effectiveness of different treatments.
- The basic principles of a budget impact analysis, which also considers the perspective of the payer’s budget and the choices that have to be made across patient populations.
- How health economic insights can add tremendous value to pharma/medtech products throughout their entire lifecycle, from early clinical development up to post-launch.
Additional Benefits
- The supporting training materials (i.e. workbook, exercises, slides and additional readings) will optimise learning retention.
- Track your progress from the pre-course motivational self-assessment exercise, through the exercises in the modules to the final test and benchmark your results with the industry average during the Kick-off and Closing Webinar.
Why You Should Take This Course
The Content: All executives contributing to the success of innovative pharma/medtech products should take this course because society can only afford products that have an acceptable cost-effectiveness and budget impact profile. The moment of truth is during pricing & reimbursement negotiations, but the “acceptable” target product profile and supporting health economic evidence must be generated from early clinical development onwards, then successfully negotiated during the market access phases, and finally communicated and proven post-launch in the “real world”. Therefore, all pharma/medtech executives with a thorough understanding of the fundamentals of health economic evaluations will take better decisions that affect the success of pharma/medtech brands in healthcare markets.
The Expert: Prof. Dr. Lieven Annemans, with a background not only in academia but also in pharma, health care policy making and consultancy, has a very strong reputation within the international health economic community. But what qualifies him as being truly exceptional is his talent for explaining complex health economics theory, even to executives without any prior knowledge. Lieven enjoys a wide international reputation across the pharma/medtech industries as a very efficient and high-impact trainer on the fundamentals of health economic evaluations and HTAs.
What is the difference with the 2-day face-to-face Health Economics for Non-Health-Economists course?
- The 2-day face-to-face course has more breadth and depth in both theory (lectures) and practice (group work). For instance, the 2-hour module on the “Guidelines for Health Economic Evaluations” is highly valued because of the interactive group work session on a health economic publication.
- In a face-to-face classroom training, you learn a lot from your industry peers because of the exchange of experiences and ideas and the discussions about issues you face in your function. The Q&A sessions are very rich and you will have many opportunities for conversations with your peers outside the formal programme.
- Participating in the 2-day course gives the opportunity to meet Prof. Dr. Lieven Annemans and discuss your own projects/issues with him during the breaks.
Agenda of the Online Self-study Programme Basics of Health Economics
I. KICK-OFF WEBINAR (~ 1 h)
You will meet the other participants and your Learning Coach will address the following:
- Introduction of the programme
- Pre-course motivational self-assessment exercise: at what level of understanding of health economics are you now and how do you compare to the industry benchmark?
- What you will master after the programme
- Tips on how to get started and how to get the most value out of the programme
II. SELF-STUDY – 5 MODULES & FINAL TEST (~7 h 30 min):
After the kick-off webinar, you have 4 weeks to complete the following 5 self-study modules and the final test:
MODULE 1 – QALYs & ICERs (~1 h 15 min)
- Why health economics, and more specifically: Why do we need health economic evaluations?
- Understanding the QALY, a commonly used measure to quantify the health impact of treatments across diseases
- Examples of utility scores, a key element in QALY calculations, and how changes over time impact on a patient’s QALYs
- Different perspectives of the cost dimension of a new treatment
- Understanding the ICER, a commonly used measure to quantify the cost-effectiveness of treatments across diseases
- Terminology used by health economists for different types of health economic analyses
At the end of the module, you will need to solve 4 exercises on QALY and ICER calculations online. Upon completion, you will get access to module 2, at the start of which Prof. Dr. Lieven Annemans explains the solutions.
MODULE 2 – Challenging the QALY and the Value of Health (~1 h 15 min)
- Pros & cons of the different methods used for obtaining the utility scores in QALY calculations
- Direct methods: Time Trade Off and Standard Gamble
- Indirect methods: EuroQoL5D and SF-36
- Shortcomings of the QALY approach, with a focus on the inaccuracies of utility scores in some diseases, and how this is being addressed
- Challenging the ICER thresholds
- Pros & Cons of the different approaches of setting the thresholds: Benchmarking, GDP-based or at the discretion of the payer
- Why disease burden and budget impact need to be considered in deciding what societies are willing to pay for innovations
At the end of the module, you will need to solve 3 exercises on the use of utility scores and ICER thresholds.
MODULE 3 – Decision Models for Health Economic Evaluations (~1 h 30 min)
- Decision Tree models, most often used for short term treatments
- Understanding the logic and the maths of a simple decision tree for a hypothetical new treatment
- Some real-life examples will illustrate that the same principle is used throughout often rather complex Decision Tree models
- Markov models, most often used for chronic diseases or diseases with sequelae
- Understanding the logic and the maths of a simple Markov model for a hypothetical new treatment
- Several real-life examples will illustrate that the same principle is applied throughout more complex Markov models
- Two key challenges that companies need to be prepared for when facing payers: Model validation and the need for sensitivity analyses to map and manage uncertainty around underlying data
At the end of the module, you will need to solve 2 exercises on the Decision Tree model and 1 on a Markov model.
MODULE 4 – The Cost Dimension and Budget Impact Analysis (~1 h 30 min)
- The cost dimension
- A structured overview of cost categories that can be included in cost-effectiveness studies and how to reflect on those
- The 3-step process for a cost calculation
- Overview of potential data sources
- Understanding the meaning of “discounted results”
- Budget impact analysis
- Thinking from the payer’s budget perspective
- New elements that come into play on top of what is considered in cost-effectiveness studies
- A real-life example in breast cancer that not only illustrates the complexity, but also the necessity for companies to do this seriously
At the end of the module, you will need to solve 2 exercises on the cost dimension and 1 on the budget impact analysis.
MODULE 5 – Health Economic Evaluations and Clinical Trials (~1 h)
- The tremendous value of health economic insights to pharma/medtech products throughout their entire lifecycle, from early product development onwards
- The conflicting views between clinical trialists and health economists
- How prospective health economic evaluations within clinical trials (also called pragmatic or naturalistic trials) can partly address the problem
- The added value of Real World Evidence to fill the evidence gaps and for demonstrating a products’ value in the real world, e.g. outcomes based contracts
Final Test (~1 h)
The final test consists of 12 questions that span the content of the 5 modules. It allows you to digest and truly embed the learnings of the full programme.
III. CLOSING WEBINAR (~ 45 min)
Your Learning Coach will address the following:
- Overview of the solutions of the exercises in the final test
- Overview of the final test results of the group and a comparison with the industry benchmark
>> Click here if you wish to receive the PDF brochure of this course
Learning Methodology
This modular online training programme gradually builds up from the fundamental building blocks up to corporate-level strategic decisions that affect all executives contributing to a brand’s success as of early development.
In each video module, Prof. Dr. Lieven Annemans clearly explains the theory with simple hypothetical examples, and then illustrates with real-life examples how that theory is applied in the real world.
At the end of each module you will need to solve 3 to 4 exercises before you can get access to the next module. This will ensure you sufficiently master the theory to move to the next module.
Throughout the programme, you are guided and supported by a Learning Coach who can assist you if you experience problems with the exercises, or answer content related question you may have (with the support of Prof. Dr. Lieven Annemans).
The development of this self-study programme benefited from feedback and advice from the following 15 executives, representing a fine cross-section of the international pharmaceutical industry:
Job Title | Company | Country |
|---|---|---|
| Medical Science Liaison | Amgen | Belgium |
| Global Head of Medical Affairs | Bial | Portugal |
| Commercial Training Lead | Biogen | Switzerland |
| Vice President EU Mid Sized Countries | Daiichi Sankyo | Belgium |
| Market Access Director | Gilead | Italy |
| Head of Chief Medical Office Strategy & Organizational Effectiveness | Merck Group | Germany |
| Executive Director, Business Development and Licensing Europe | MSD | United Kingdom |
| Global Brand Manager | Norgine | United Kingdom |
| Business Franchise Head Ophthalmology | Novartis | Belgium |
| Global Pricing Senior Director | Pfizer | France |
| Head Public Affairs and Communications | Sanofi | Netherlands |
| Director Medical Excellence | Sanofi Pasteur | United States |
| Market Access Manager EU | Santhera Pharmaceuticals | Netherlands |
| Global Pricing Head | UCB | United Kingdom |
| Director of Global Implementation Science | ViiV Healthcare | United Kingdom |
Testimonials
Who Should Take This Course?
Prof. Dr. Lieven Annemans concludes his course with this statement: “Everyone in a (pharma or medtech) company should have knowledge about the basics of health economic evaluations”. That is because all pharma/medtech executives along a product’s lifecycle, from early clinical development up to post-launch, will take better decisions for that product if they know the fundamentals of health economic evaluations and can think/act with the payer’s perspectives in mind.
In other words, all executives involved in preclinical and clinical development, regulatory affairs, market access, medical affairs, public affairs, marketing & sales, business development and licensing, business intelligence, market research…, should take this course.
Dates
The following 4-week online programmes are planned:
12 September, 2023 – 12 October, 2023
- Kick-off Webinar 12 September 2023, 14.00-15.00 CET/Brussels Time
- 4 weeks to complete 5 online modules
- Closing Webinar 12 October 2023, 14.00-14.45 CET/Brussels Time
10 October, 2023 – 9 November, 2023
- Kick-off Webinar 10 October 2023, 14.00-15.00 CET/Brussels Time
- 4 weeks to complete 5 online modules
- Closing Webinar 9 November 2023, 14.00-14.45 CET/Brussels Time
14 November, 2023 – 14 December, 2023
- Kick-off Webinar 14 November 2023, 14.00-15.00 CET/Brussels Time
- 4 weeks to complete 5 online modules
- Closing Webinar 14 December 2023, 14.00-14.45 CET/Brussels Time
Practical Information
The programme starts with a kick-off webinar led by the Learning Coach.
You then have 4 weeks to complete the 5 modules of the online self-study programme.
You will have access to maximum 1 module per day in order to maximise the learning impact of each module. In case you wish to have access to 2 modules in a day or a weekend, you need to let us know in advance.
Once you completed a module, you will no longer have access to that module, but you will receive the full slides set.
During the closing webinar, led by the Learning Coach, you will receive your certificate of completion, signed by Prof. Dr. Lieven Annemans and CELforPharma.
Included in the Registration Fee
- Access to the kick-off webinar, the 5 pre-recorded presentations (each 45-55 min) by Prof. Dr. Lieven Annemans, and the closing webinar.
- Workbook with the key presentation slides of each module so that you can take notes while watching the recordings.
- Exercises to be completed in-between the modules and the final test which you need to complete to get your course certificate.
- The full slide deck of each module.
- Additional reading: referred publications, useful links and additional reading material.
- Your Learning Coach will address any content-related questions you may have during the programme as long as they are within the scope of this course.
Group Discount & Team Training
We have special offers for teams of 3 or more participants.
Contact Inge Cornelis, Director, Client & Product Projects, (inge.cornelis@celforpharma.com) for more details.
How to Register
- Click the "Register Here" button on this page.
- Choose a session, then fill out your personal details and company / invoicing details.
- Choose to pay via bank transfer or by credit card (through a secure payment link, which you will receive together with the invoice).
- Click "Confirm Registration". You will be sent an automatic email confirming your registration followed by a personal email containing an invoice and further payment instructions.
For assistance in registering, raising a PO or invoicing, please do not hesitate to contact Kealeigh Steel.
(email: kealeigh.steel@celforpharma.com or call: +32 2 709 01 45)
Transfer & Cancellation Policy
Flexible Transfer
- If a registrant cannot attend the scheduled course, he/she can avoid any cancellation charge by sending a suitable replacement participant.
- Alternatively, the registrant can transfer once on a “space available” basis at no extra cost, until 3 weeks prior to the event, to another course of the same value held within one year of the original course date.
Registration Cancellation
- Less than 14 days prior to the course date: registrant liable to pay the full invoiced registration fee.
- Between 15 and 30 days prior to the course date: registrant liable to pay 50% of the invoiced registration fee.
- More than 30 days prior to the course date: registrant liable to pay a cancellation fee of € 450 per registrant.
- If a registrant postpones his/her participation to a future course, and cancels again, no refund can be claimed for registration fees.
 | (*) Interested in this programme for your team? Contact Inge Cornelis for more info about group rates and Team Training options. |
| (*) This self-study programme (~9 h in total) needs to be finalised in a time frame of 4 weeks. |
Related Courses
| (*) Interested in this programme for your team? Contact Inge Cornelis for more info about group rates and Team Training options. |
| (*) This self-study programme (~9 h in total) needs to be finalised in a time frame of 4 weeks. |