On 29 September 2021, the heads of 19 European HTA agencies came together and inaugurated a new HTA-focused collaborative network for high-level strategic exchange and discussion. In the coming period, the Heads of Agencies Group will focus on:
- Supporting the development of the basis for joint work on all HTA activities at the EU level within the model of EU cooperation anticipated by the Regulation on HTA.
- Supporting the preparation of national systems and capacities for the adoption of the HTA Regulation.
- Supporting the joint work performed at the technical and scientific levels by HTA bodies across Europe.
- Advising policymakers and relevant EU and national institutions on matters regarding HTA, particularly cooperation in HTA.
The Heads of Agencies Group has elected Prof. Rui Santos Ivo (INFARMED, Portugal) as its Chair, who will be joined by Prof. Dominique Le Guludec (HAS, France) and Dr. Trygve Ottersen (NIPH, Norway) as Vice-Chairs. The work of the Group is based on a joint Memorandum of Understanding and will be supported by a secretariat which has been set up at the Dutch Health Care Institute (ZIN, The Netherlands) led by Marcus Guardian.
Organisations that have joined the group so far include AEMPS (Spain), AIFA (Italy), AGENAS (Italy), AIHTA (Austria), INFARMED (Portugal), KCE (Belgium), NIPH (Norway), G-BA (Germany), HAS (France), HIQA (Ireland), IQWiG (Germany), FIMEA (Finland), NCPE (Ireland), REDETS (Spain), RER (Italy), RIZIV-INAMI (Belgium), NOMA (Norway), TLV (Sweden) and ZIN (The Netherlands).
