Research Australia Response to the Health Technology Assessment Policy and Methods Review

This submission answers two survey questions in the first consultation phase of the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Policy and Methods Review, a commitment under the 2022–2027 Strategic Agreement between the Commonwealth and Medicines Australia. On barriers to earliest possible access, Research Australia maintains that new treatments increasingly cross traditional boundaries, combining drugs, devices, diagnosis and monitoring, and that consumer and medical devices are converging. It cites autologous stem cell therapies as an example of rigid boundaries creating regulatory loopholes, and recommends proportionate, risk-based regulation informed by horizon scanning that guides investment in HTA methods. On solutions, it notes that university-based teams evaluate nearly all submissions to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, that evaluators take up to two years to train, and that a lack of NHMRC and Medical Research Future Fund support for HTA methods research drives them to industry, leaving Australia reliant on the United Kingdom. It recommends Department of Health and Aged Care training and research grants for evaluation teams, funded on a cost-recovery basis through a modest additional fee on each medicine application.