The National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics (NCPE) was established in 1998 with the aim of promoting expertise in Ireland for the advancement of the discipline of pharmacoeconomics through practice, research and education. The NCPE is an independent Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Agency responsible for evaluating drug treatments for use in the Irish healthcare setting. The NCPE conducts the HTA of drugs for the health service in Ireland in collaboration with the Health Service Executive's Corporate Pharmaceutical Unit. They assess comparative clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of drugs compared to current standard of care, as well as the budget impact.
The NCPE report to the HSE via the Chief Clinical Officer. All NCPE HTAs are disseminated to the HSE’S Chief Clinical Officer on completion. Therefore, there is full oversight of all HTAs completed by the NCPE. Furthermore, the NCPE responds to all requests from the Minister as and when required.
The NCPE was subject to audit in 2019 as part of a review commissioned by the Department of Health and conducted by Mazars examining the governance arrangements to support the HSE’s drug reimbursement process. In relation to NCPE staffing and governance the report highlighted that: “As their roles are so specialist, we reviewed the qualifications of the staff at the NCPE. We noted that the assessors in the NCPE have all completed or are in the process of completing a PHD programme in Pharmacoeconomics. This is a highly unique skill set and these individuals are highly valuable to this process. The calibre of the staff resources employed in the NCPE is testament to the strong governance in this process”.
The NCPE is highly regarded internationally and is playing a leading role in three international initiatives: the Beneluxa Initiative, International Horizon Scanning Initiative, and the European HTA Regulation. The Regulation on HTA entered into force in January 2022 and will fully apply as of January 2025. Its purpose is to strengthen the quality of HTA in the European Union and ensure efficiency in the evaluation of new medicines and technologies in a consistent way across member states. The HTA Coordination Group is the main governance body established under the EU HTA legislation. The NCPE’s Head of HTA Strategy and External Engagement is the Chair of this Group.
The NCPE also has a research function, with staff holding numerous teaching commitments and affiliations with the School of Medicine in Trinity College Dublin.
