Background: Horizon Scanning in Oncology (HSO) was implemented by the Austrian Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Health Technology Assessment (LBI-HTA) in 2009 due to increasing expenditures for anti-cancer therapies. Aim of HSO is to facilitate the evidence-based use of new anti-cancer drugs and to pre-estimate their financial implications. Thus, new anti-cancer drugs are evaluated before their routine introduction into clinical practice in order to inform decision-makers.
Objective: The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of the program HSO, by using 3 methods:
1. download analysis, 2. online survey
3. environmental analysis
Results:
Download analysis: The websites of LBI-HTA’s HSO reports were viewed 13,737 times and reports were downloaded in total 6,671 times between October 2009 and February 2012. On average, reports were downloaded 25 times per month.
Online survey: Out of 126 valid invitations sent to HSO email-alert recipients 36 participated in the survey (response rate: 29%). Most of the survey participants were pharmacists. 72% of the responders were involved in decision-making processes; 94% were satisfied with the structure and content of the report; 89% rated the total quality of the reports to be "very good" or "good". 71% of the responders were using HSO reports, but mainly as an information source (rather than as decision support).
Environmental analysis: A databases search (CRD HTA database, EUnetHTA, EuroScan and INAHTA) for the 24 drugs assessed by the LBI-HTA within its program HSO identified the following organisations as also being involved in (early) assessment of anti-cancer drugs: IQWiG, NETSCC, NICE, NHSC and SMC. The screening of the websites of HTA institutes identified five other agencies which publish (early) assessment reports: AKDAE, CADTH, CVZ, HAS and NCPE. On two occasions the LBI-HTA was the only institute that published an early assessment report and, besides the NHSC, the LBI-HTA was amongst the earliest HTA institutes publishing reports on anti-cancer drugs, on average within four months after approval by the EMA.
Conclusion: In general there are indications for an impact of HSO: the reports are increasingly downloaded and are considered to be a relevant, timely and high-quality information source. The environmental analysis showed that the LBI-HTA is, with its early assessments of anti-cancer drugs, amongst the earliest institutes publishing reports, on average within four months after the European Medicines Agency approval. Nevertheless several questions remain unanswered, such as: Do the HSO documents actually have an influence on decisions, or: Why do clinicians only rarely use this source?