IQWiG in the media

Secret drug prices: Foul play against Europe and an own goal for the pharmaceutical industry - Observer Gesundheit (observer-gesundheit.de)

In a commentary for the Observer Gesundheit, IQWiG Director Thomas Kaiser criticizes the plans to introduce confidential reimbursement prices for drugs.

Please follow this link for an English translation of the commentary

Deadly prices

IQWiG has supported an important Europe-wide research project. For NDR, WDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung, among others, the Institute selected those 32 drugs from all new drug approvals in the last five years that had a "considerable” or “major” added benefit compared to the previous standard treatment. The IQWiG list was used for an article on www.tagesschau.de, which highlights the big differences in the provision of essential drugs in Europe.

What does IQWiG actually do?

In an interview with forum, Institute Director Thomas Kaiser talks about IQWiG's role and how it works.

Publication gap in medical studies

In an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio, Stefan Sauerland explains why unpublished study results jeopardize evidence-based health care.

Health care: “We need a research agenda geared towards public interest”

In an interview with “heise online”, IQWiG Director Thomas Kaiser argues in favour of setting up a central committee in Germany that aims to develop a research agenda geared towards the public interest and that can award research commissions for this purpose – for example, to a suitably equipped university network.

Connection to the AMNOG process

The European health technology assessment (HTA) process will start in January 2025, initially with the assessment of oncology drugs. In an interview with the German “Presseagentur Gesundheit“ Beate Wieseler notes that the new EU-HTA process cannot be viewed in isolation from the respective health care systems in the member states. Wieseler heads IQWiG's Drug Assessment Department and, as Chair of the "Development of Methodological and Procedural Guidance" subgroup, is a member of the EU Coordination Group for the implementation of the EU HTA process.

More data alone is not enough (German version)

In an interview with the “ersatzkasse” magazine, Thomas Kaiser talks about the importance of evidence and research, how to deal with studies and the impact on health care.

Fact-checking for more transparency (German version)

The magazine "Gesundheit + Gesellschaft" (Health + Society) has published a portrait of IQWiG and an interview with IQWiG Director Thomas Kaiser on evidence generation.

Ideas for solving the evidence dilemma (German version)

There is a gaping evidence hole in the benefit assessment of orphan drugs. International registries for rare diseases could help solve the problem, says IQWiG Director Thomas Kaiser in the Tagesspiegel Background.

We need to get better at evidence generation

In an interview with Deutsches Ärzteblatt, IQWiG-Director Thomas Kaiser explains how evidence can be better communicated in medicine and why other European countries do it better.