Comparative effectiveness research (CER) represents the next stage in an evolution of research and knowledge development in regard to medical interventions. In this article we describe the challenges currently facing the innovative pharmaceuticals industry and briefly summarize the history of...

Health systems that have fixed budgets and a coherent organizational structure generally have found it valuable to have a dedicated primary research capacity to answer decision-oriented value-for-money questions of particular importance to the system. The UK NHS is one example of such a system....

The application of cost-effectiveness analysis in healthcare has become commonplace in the US, but the validity of this approach is in jeopardy unless the proverbial $US50 000 per QALY benchmark for determining value for money is updated for the 21st century. While the initial aim of this...

Since 1999, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) Technology Appraisal Programme has been charged with producing guidance for the NHS in England and Wales on the appropriate use of new and existing healthcare programmes. Guidance is based on an assessment of a number...

Indirect and mixed treatment comparison (MTC) approaches to synthesis are logical extensions of more established meta-analysis methods. They have great potential for estimating the comparative effectiveness of multiple treatments using an evidence base of trials that individually do not compare...