Patient-Centered Outcomes the Focus of ISPOR's 18th Annual International Meeting in New Orleans

LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J., April 23, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The leading international organization focused on promoting and improving the use of health economics and outcomes research in health policy will devote its 18^th Annual International Meeting to patient-centered outcomes in research, evidence and drug development.

The International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR), meeting May 18-22 in New Orleans, is bringing in speakers and perspectives from all over the world to discuss effectiveness research and drug development.

Among the speakers, Laurie Burke, MPH, RPh, Program Committee Co-Chair and Director, Study Endpoints and Labeling Development, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will moderate a session on the importance of patient-centered outcomes.

The session, Finding the Patient in Health Research and Policy, will address what is being done differently to focus on the patient in health care delivery and drug development. Burke will be joined by Donald L. Patrick, PhD, MSPH, professor, Department of Health Services, University of Washington, Theresa Mullin, PhD, Director, Office of Planning and Informatics, CDER, FDA, and Joe V. Selby, MD, MPH, Executive Director, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), to discuss the steps for assuring the patient is the focus of effectiveness research and drug development.

In addition to the opening plenary session, Burke will also be a featured speaker during the second plenary session, Finding the Patient in the Drug Development Process. The session will include debate about whether the patient's well-being is or is not being considered during the drug development process. Joining Burke will be Donald L. Patrick, PhD, MSPH, and professor, Department of Health Services, University of Washington, Freda C. Lewis-Hall, MD, FAPA, Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Pfizer, Inc., and Gail Gibson Hunt, President and CEO, National Alliance for Caregiving.

ISPOR's 18^th Annual International Meeting features more than 1,600 presentations, 15 issues panels, and 31 workshops, all addressing patient-centered outcomes and the importance on focusing on the patient. The meeting is the leading forum for sharing and debating knowledge and developing consensus towards improving health care efficiency.

"We are thrilled to have a wide range of perspectives represented at our meeting ranging from patient advocates to pharmaceutical companies to the FDA and PCORI, all with the patient at the center of the discussion," said ISPOR's 2013 President-elect, William Crown, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer, Optum Labs.

Additional highlights of the meeting agenda include:

• How Do We Balance Patient Value and Payer Cost in Oncology?
• Accountable Care Organization Pharmaceutical Readiness: Is the Glass Half-Full, Half-Empty, or Do We Need a Different Glass?
• Value-Based Pricing: Getting It Right for People with Cancer
• Measuring Patient-Reported Outcomes in Rare Diseases
• One Size Does Not Fit All: How Traditional Pricing and Reimbursement Policies Affect Orphan Disease Therapy
• Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs: Are We Walking the Tightrope Between Controlled Substance Access and Abuse?
• Can We Use Social Media to Support Content Validity of Patient-Reported Outcome (PRO) Instruments in Medical Product Development?

To register as press, visit the ISPOR's 18^th Annual International Meeting registration page, and register here. 

For updates from ISPOR's 18^th Annual International Meeting via Twitter follow @ISPORorg.  ISPOR will be using the Twitter hashtag #ISPORNewOrleans for live discussion during and after the meeting.

ABOUT ISPOR
The International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) promotes the science of health economics and outcomes research and facilitates the translation of this research into useful information for healthcare decision-makers. The society has more than 7,000 members from over 100 countries with 64 regional chapters. Follow ISPOR on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ispororg.

SOURCE International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research