News
Academy
Editorial PodcastsEditorial VideosPeer ExchangeProfiles in Medicine
Conference CoverageConference Listing
Pharmaceutical Executive
Partner Perspectives
Content Engagement HubsE-BooksEventsSponsored PodcastsSponsored VideosWebcastsWhitepapers
Subscribe
Corporate CommunicationsCorporate CommunicationsCorporate CommunicationsCorporate CommunicationsCorporate Communications
Direct-to-ConsumerDirect-to-ConsumerDirect-to-ConsumerDirect-to-Consumer
Emerging BiopharmaEmerging BiopharmaEmerging Biopharma
IR Licensing and PartnershipsIR Licensing and PartnershipsIR Licensing and Partnerships
Market AccessMarket AccessMarket AccessMarket Access
Medical AffairsMedical AffairsMedical AffairsMedical Affairs
OperationsOperationsOperationsOperationsOperations
Patient EngagementPatient Engagement
RegulatoryRegulatoryRegulatoryRegulatory
Sales & MarketingSales & MarketingSales & MarketingSales & MarketingSales & Marketing
Spotlight -
  • Latest Executive Roundtables
  • Asembia 2025
  • Sales Effectiveness
IS1
  • Applied Clinical Trials

  • BioPharm International

  • Cannabis Science and Technology

  • Chromatography Online

  • Nutritional Outlook

  • Pharmaceutical Commerce

  • Pharmaceutical Executive

  • Pharm Tech

  • Spectroscopy Online

  • Turbo Machinery Magazine

Corporate CommunicationsCorporate CommunicationsCorporate CommunicationsCorporate CommunicationsCorporate Communications
Direct-to-ConsumerDirect-to-ConsumerDirect-to-ConsumerDirect-to-Consumer
Emerging BiopharmaEmerging BiopharmaEmerging Biopharma
IR Licensing and PartnershipsIR Licensing and PartnershipsIR Licensing and Partnerships
Market AccessMarket AccessMarket AccessMarket Access
Medical AffairsMedical AffairsMedical AffairsMedical Affairs
OperationsOperationsOperationsOperationsOperations
Patient EngagementPatient Engagement
RegulatoryRegulatoryRegulatoryRegulatory
Sales & MarketingSales & MarketingSales & MarketingSales & MarketingSales & Marketing
IS1
  • Applied Clinical Trials

  • BioPharm International

  • Cannabis Science and Technology

  • Chromatography Online

  • Nutritional Outlook

  • Pharmaceutical Commerce

  • Pharmaceutical Executive

  • Pharm Tech

  • Spectroscopy Online

  • Turbo Machinery Magazine

    • Academy
    • Partner Perspectives
    • Subscribe
Advertisement

Article

January 20, 2020

Changing Top Trends in Health Economics and Operational Research

Author(s):

Leela Barham

ISPOR has published its third issue of the top trends in HEOR. Leela Barham takes a look at how the list has changed over time.

ISPOR has published its third issue of the top trends in HEOR. Leela Barham takes a look at how the list has changed over time.

The International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) is the self-proclaimed leading professional society for health economics and outcomes research globally. ISPOR’s 20,000 members span the world and its leaders1 include experts from academia, industry, consultancy, as well as those working in health technology assessment (HTA) agencies.  

In 2018 ISPOR began to identify the top 10 trends in health economics and outcomes research (HEOR); its latest top 10 trends for 2020 is published this month. So what’s rising and what’s falling? 

Table 1: ISPORs top 10 trends in HEOR, 2018, 2019 and 2020

Source: Based upon ISPOR top 10 HEOR trends for 2018, 2019, and 2020.

 

Real-world evidence has emerged as the top issue for 2020 and was in the top 3 for 2019. Drug pricing is a consistent theme, moving from the number 1 slot in 2018 and 2019 but only to second position in 2020. Curative therapies have made a return to the top 10 in 2020, at number 3, after disappearing from 2019’s top 10, but being number 2 back in 2018.

What’s interesting to note too, aside from the top issues having some consistency, is how some topics have dropped off the chart. Issues including accelerated drug approvals, diagnostics, biosimilars, disruptive innovators, big data, value assessment frameworks, healthcare decision making for low-income countries and unhealthy behaviors are no longer explicitly named checked. 

Yet this is why it matters to recognize the linkages across the topics; precision medicine is linked to diagnostics, for example. Similarly, overall healthcare spending, a new topic for 2020, is linked to issues such as the use of biosimilars, which can come in at lower prices than their originator biologics (albeit recognizing that medicines spend is still only a small part of overall medicines spend). Plus, it’s hard to know if you’re doing a value-based contract unless you’ve agreed on what value is which is what value assessment frameworks try to do. 

It may also be partly to do with the evolution in terminology over time; this probably explains the move from mHealth to digital technologies for example. As long as the change is to help more clearly convey the concept, that’s all good. 

It’s likely, given the breadth and depth of ISPOR membership, that many of these top topics are exactly what payers want help on, so expect more from the ISPOR membership on how to respond to payer worries, which can also help companies to respond. 

And for those who (rightly) always ask about the patient, they are there too; real-world evidence does, after all, come from patients.

Leela Barham is a researcher and writer on health and pharmaceuticals from a health economic and policy perspective. 

1. www.ispor.org/about/our-leaders

Newsletter

Lead with insight with the Pharmaceutical Executive newsletter, featuring strategic analysis, leadership trends, and market intelligence for biopharma decision-makers.

Subscribe Now!
Related Videos
Arda Ural
Lynlee Brown
Arda Ural
Kimberley Chiang, CoverMyMeds
Kimberley Chiang, CoverMyMeds
Related Content
Advertisement
Credit: zimmytws | stock.adobe.com. Balancing profitability with affordability, redesigning supply chains for resilience, and engaging actively in trade policy discussions are no longer optional, they are strategic imperatives.
August 4th 2025

How Can Pharma Leadership Prepare for the Current Tariff Environment and Potential Changes in 2026?

Thani Jambulingam, PhD
The 15% tariff on pharmaceutical imports from the European Union is not a short term inconvenience, it represents a structural shift in the economics of the US pharmaceutical market.
President Donald Trump
August 4th 2025

President Trump Issues Letters to 17 Major Pharma Companies Demanding Action on Most-Favored-Nation Order

Mike Hollan
The letter states that the companies have 60 days to meet the President's requirements.
Stock.adobe.com
August 4th 2025

Developing the CAR-T Sector in Saudi Arabia

Mike Hollan
Jeff Liter, CEO of Luminary, discusses his company’s approach to CAR-T therapies and why the developing Saudi market has potential.
Orders of Magnitude: Gauging Future Pricing-and-Policy Reverberations in Pharma
August 4th 2025

Orders of Magnitude: Gauging Future Pricing-and-Policy Reverberations in Pharma

Michael Christel
Q&A with Model N's Michael Grosberg drills deeper into the new US drug pricing directives, including challenges in implementation, the potential unintended consequences, and how these actions could spark the shift to outcomes-based contracting in healthcare.
UAE flag waving in the sky, national symbol of UAE | Image Credit: © Freelancer - stock.adobe.com
August 4th 2025

Abu Dhabi Reinforces Global Leadership in Healthcare Innovation with High-Level US Visit

Patrick Lavery
During a high-level US visit, the Department of Health—Abu Dhabi signed strategic agreements with Abbott, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Sanofi to boost pharmaceutical manufacturing, expand vaccine development, and advance digital health and clinical research.
China’s Trial Advantage: Tracking Nation’s Growth in Pharma Innovation and Global Investment
August 4th 2025

China’s Trial Advantage: Tracking Nation’s Growth in Pharma Innovation and Global Investment

Bruce Liu Martin Slusarczyk, PhD Selene Peng Jonathan Welte
A look at China's emergence as a hub for novel treatment pursuits—and ways international investors can best capitalize on the favorable research trajectory.
Related Content
Advertisement
Credit: zimmytws | stock.adobe.com. Balancing profitability with affordability, redesigning supply chains for resilience, and engaging actively in trade policy discussions are no longer optional, they are strategic imperatives.
August 4th 2025

How Can Pharma Leadership Prepare for the Current Tariff Environment and Potential Changes in 2026?

Thani Jambulingam, PhD
The 15% tariff on pharmaceutical imports from the European Union is not a short term inconvenience, it represents a structural shift in the economics of the US pharmaceutical market.
President Donald Trump
August 4th 2025

President Trump Issues Letters to 17 Major Pharma Companies Demanding Action on Most-Favored-Nation Order

Mike Hollan
The letter states that the companies have 60 days to meet the President's requirements.
Stock.adobe.com
August 4th 2025

Developing the CAR-T Sector in Saudi Arabia

Mike Hollan
Jeff Liter, CEO of Luminary, discusses his company’s approach to CAR-T therapies and why the developing Saudi market has potential.
Orders of Magnitude: Gauging Future Pricing-and-Policy Reverberations in Pharma
August 4th 2025

Orders of Magnitude: Gauging Future Pricing-and-Policy Reverberations in Pharma

Michael Christel
Q&A with Model N's Michael Grosberg drills deeper into the new US drug pricing directives, including challenges in implementation, the potential unintended consequences, and how these actions could spark the shift to outcomes-based contracting in healthcare.
UAE flag waving in the sky, national symbol of UAE | Image Credit: © Freelancer - stock.adobe.com
August 4th 2025

Abu Dhabi Reinforces Global Leadership in Healthcare Innovation with High-Level US Visit

Patrick Lavery
During a high-level US visit, the Department of Health—Abu Dhabi signed strategic agreements with Abbott, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Sanofi to boost pharmaceutical manufacturing, expand vaccine development, and advance digital health and clinical research.
China’s Trial Advantage: Tracking Nation’s Growth in Pharma Innovation and Global Investment
August 4th 2025

China’s Trial Advantage: Tracking Nation’s Growth in Pharma Innovation and Global Investment

Bruce Liu Martin Slusarczyk, PhD Selene Peng Jonathan Welte
A look at China's emergence as a hub for novel treatment pursuits—and ways international investors can best capitalize on the favorable research trajectory.
About
Advertise
Contact Us
Editorial Board
Editorial Submission Guidelines
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Privacy Policy
Terms and Conditions
Contact Info

2 Commerce Drive
Cranbury, NJ 08512

609-716-7777

© 2025 MJH Life Sciences

All rights reserved.