Implementing pharmacoeconomic guidelines in Latin America: lessons learned

AUGUSTOVSKI, F.; MELENDEZ, G.; LEMGRUBER, A.; DRUMMOND, M.

Value Health

Value Health

Año: 2011 p. 1 - 30

1524-4733

Latin America is a large and diverse region. Therefore it is no surprisethat the development and implementation of pharmacoeconomic (PE)guidelines is proceeding at a different pace in different jurisdictions.The first three articles in this special issue of Value in Health focusingon Latin America outline the challenges in the development andimplementation of guidelines in three country clusters. The threeclusters represent countries at different stages in the developmentand implementation of guidelines at the timewhenthe InternationalSociety for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR)Latin American conference was held in Brazil (September 2009).However there have been rapid changes in some countries duringthe past year, especially in Colombia. In Argentina, Colombia, Guatemala,Uruguay, and Venezuela, PE guidelines were only under considerationat the time of the conference. In Chile and Mexico, PEguidelines were being developed, or were already developed. In Brazil,PE guidelines were already in the implementation phase andformed the basis of industry submissions to the Office of EconomicRegulation at the Brazilian Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA), theagency that decides on the regulatory approval and reimbursementof drugs and other health technologies [1,2] (see Augustovski et al. fora review and comparison of the PE guidelines currently existing inthe Latin American region).