BCHT Biopharmaceutical Research Initiatives
BCHT-Related Events
CHCF/Health Affairs Roundtable; November 6, 2009
James Robinson, Director of the BCHT, coordinated a roundtable discussion to discuss value-based insurance-based design for new and high-cost medical therapies. This policy roundtable was sponsored by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) and Health Affairs journal and took place in Oakland on November 6, 2009. CHCF and Health Affairs have partnered since 1997 to support the publication of health policy research on issues critical to California.
For more information on the CHCF and links to publications through its partnership with Health Affairs, please visit www.chcf.org
NBCH 14th Annual Conference; November 8 – 10, 2009
James Robinson, Director of the BCHT, made a plenary presentation of "The Employer's Role in Value-Based Health Care" at the National Business Coalition on Health's annual conference, held in Phoenix, Arizona. [Presentation]
For more information on the 2011 NBCH Annual Conference and Agenda, please visit www.nbch.org/2011-Annual-Conference.
Selected BCHT-led Activities to Educate Berkeley Students About Biopharmaceuticals
A key BCHT objective is educating Berkeley students on the importance of health technology and its policy implications. BCHT staff members teach graduate-level courses on the impact of health technologies, both in formal classroom and in extracurricular settings. Below are some examples of recent BCHT engagements:
Workshop on Biosimilars for Students and Professionals; April 24, 2009
This workshop focused on policy initiatives related to biosimilars, which are generic versions of biopharmaceuticals. Congress had recently introduced legislation to facilitate the development and marketing of biosimilars, and workshop participants – both students and professionals – were divided into teams to present the interests implicated in the debate, including the pharmaceutical industry, the FDA, health insurers, and the European Union, where there is already a regulatory pathway in place.
Course on Health Care Technology Policy (PH222A)
This course focuses on the policy challenges and opportunities for the development, financing, and use of new health care technologies. Topics include mechanisms to balance innovation and affordability, the evaluation of clinical and economic performance, new forms of insurance and consumer cost-sharing, regulation of safety and effectiveness, methods of pricing and payment, biosimilars, gainsharing between physicians and hospitals, physician conflicts of interest, and the diffusion of advanced imaging technologies. Guest speakers are brought in from the biotechnology, medical device, and insurance sectors. This course is taught by BCHT Director James Robinson. [Syllabus]
