National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics (NCPE)

The National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics (NCPE) has contacted us about about making a patient group submission for:

Ritlecitinib (Litfulo®) for the treatment of severe alopecia areata in adults and adolescents 12 years of age and older

We canvassed through email and the website, and have collated all your feedback. The submission has been submitted and we have received confirmation that it arrived in the NCPE.

The NCPE response follows

The NCPE have completed the evaluation of Ritlecitinib (Litfulo®) HTA ID:  23071. The factors the HSE must consider when reimbursing medicines are described in the Health Act (2013). The NCPE report considers three of these factors, comparative clinical efficacy, cost-effectiveness relative to current standard of care in Ireland, and budget impact. Therefore while the advice of the NCPE is important and contributes to the final HSE decision, these are not the only factors to be considered, and are not the final conclusion to the decision.

After the NCPE sends the report to the HSE Corporate Pharmaceuticals Unit (CPU), a period of price negotiation usually commences in conjunction with the HSE Drugs Group consideration of the NCPE report. A decision on reimbursement will be made by the HSE Drugs Group considering the NCPE recommendations regarding clinical, cost-effectiveness, and budget impact, considering the discount offered by the manufacturer, and considering the other criteria identified in the Health Act (2013).

The NCPE report concludes that:

The NCPE recommends that ritlecitinib not be considered for reimbursement unless cost effectiveness can be improved relative to existing treatments*.

 * This recommendation should be considered while also having regard to the criteria specified in the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013.

The NCPE has sent its report and a copy of your submission to the HSE CPU today and a detailed summary of our evaluation will be available for the public and will be published on our website shortly.