Some European countries take more than twice as long as others to reach health technology assessment (HTA) decisions to reimburse new cancer drugs following their approval by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The average decision time is longer than one year in some countries, according to a study to be reported at ESMO 2018 Congress.
Once the EMA has approved a new treatment, many countries evaluate its benefit and cost-effectiveness through a systematic health technology assessment process as part of making a decision on whether to reimburse use of the treatment for routine patient care.
