Time for a change in how new antibiotics are reimbursed: Development of an insurance framework for funding new antibiotics based on a policy of risk mitigation.

Healthcare systems depend on the availability of new antibiotics. However, there is a lack of treatments for infections caused by multidrug resistant (MDR) pathogens and a weak development pipeline of new therapies. One core challenge to the development of new antibiotics targeting MDR pathogens is that expected revenues are insufficient to drive long-term investment.

Mapping the COPD Assessment Test onto EQ-5D.

Objectives: To develop an algorithm for estimating EuroQol five-dimensional questionnaire (EQ-5D)-equivalent utilities from the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) assessment test (CAT) and evaluate its use in economic evaluations as part of health technology assessments for COPD.

Methods: Data for the three-level EQ-5D (EQ-5D-3L) and the CAT were obtained from two multinational, phase III clinical trials. Three approaches were explored for estimating EQ-5D-equivalent utilities from the CAT: ordinary least-squares (OLS) regression, multinomial logistic regression, and a combination of the two.

Sources and Characteristics of Utility Weights for Economic Evaluation of Pediatric Vaccines: A Systematic Review.

Background: Cost-effectiveness analysis of pediatric vaccines for infectious diseases often requires quality-of-life (utility) weights.

Objective: To investigate how utility weights have been elicited and used in this context.

Methods: A systematic review was conducted of studies published between January 1990 and July 2013 that elicited or used utility weights in cost-effectiveness analyses of vaccines for pediatric populations.

Assessing Patient-Reported Outcomes in Pediatric Populations With Vaccine-Preventable Infectious Diseases: A Systematic Review of the Literature (the PROCHID Study).

Objective: To investigate the use of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in pediatric populations with vaccine-preventable infectious diseases in high-income Western countries.

Methods: Systematic review of PRO use in populations younger than 18 years with any of 17 infectious diseases for which vaccines are available or in development. The search was limited to studies performed in Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand and published between January 1, 1990, and July 31, 2013.