The 16th Meeting of the Health Technology Assessment Network of the Americas (RedETSA) will convene representatives from 38 institutions across 19 Latin American and Caribbean countries in Buenos Aires on June 13-14, marking the largest regional gathering of health technology assessment professionals in the Americas. This summit represents a critical inflection point for regional capacity building, as Latin American healthcare systems increasingly adopt evidence-based decision-making frameworks to optimize resource allocation amid growing pharmaceutical access pressures.

The scientific rationale emphasizes four strategic domains that directly impact pharmaceutical market access and regulatory pathways. The equity assessment workshop, led by RedETSA’s Equity Group and RedARETS Argentina, will establish methodological frameworks for evaluating how health technologies affect vulnerable populations, a critical consideration for pharmaceutical companies developing products for diverse socioeconomic contexts. The GRADE for Network Meta-Analysis session, conducted by PAHO and GRADE Southern Cone, will standardize evidence synthesis approaches that directly influence comparative effectiveness research and reimbursement decisions across the region.

Enhancing Methodologies for Better Pharmaceutical Outcomes

Strategic implications for pharmaceutical development include enhanced regional harmonization of methodologies, potentially streamlining market access across multiple Latin American jurisdictions. The RedETSA Report Adaptation Tool workshop, led by CUFAR Argentina and UDELAR Uruguay, addresses a fundamental challenge in resource-limited settings where conducting original studies may be prohibitive. This adaptation framework enables smaller countries to leverage existing assessments while maintaining methodological rigor, potentially accelerating pharmaceutical access timelines across the region.

“The focus on economic evaluations and their application in hedging decisions reflects the growing sophistication of Latin American capabilities,” noted healthcare economists familiar with regional development trends. The afternoon session, featuring Michael Drummond from the University of York alongside IECS Argentina, will address advanced pharmacoeconomic methodologies increasingly demanded by regional payers for high-cost therapeutic interventions, particularly in oncology and rare diseases, where budget impact considerations drive access decisions.

Market implications extend beyond immediate pharmaceutical access to broader regulatory convergence across the Americas. As RedETSA member institutions strengthen methodological alignment, pharmaceutical companies face both opportunities for streamlined regional submissions and challenges in meeting increasingly sophisticated evidence requirements. The network’s expansion to 38 institutions signals growing institutionalization across Latin America, potentially creating more predictable but demanding market access pathways for innovative therapeutics targeting regional populations with distinct epidemiological and economic characteristics.