About the consortium

AUGMENT Consortium

The AUGMENT Consortium comprises four partner institutions, each bringing unique expertise to the project:

  • Gesundheit Österreich Forschungs- und Planungs GmbH (GÖ FP): This Austrian institute is the consortium lead, who is responsible for project management and dissemination. With extensive experience in the management of large projects, contacts to public authorities and further stakeholders and extensive experience in pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement policies, GÖ FP will oversee the coordination of all project activities and has the lead in producing the study.
  • Agencja Oceny Technologii Medycznych i Taryfikacji (AOTMiT): This Polish agency specializes in health technology assessment and will lead the desk and field research activities. AOTMiT is a consultative and advisory entity in Poland, supervised by the Minister of Health. Its role is to assist in the decision-making process for public funding of medicines and other health technologies by providing data and information to support reimbursement decisions. AOTMiT has participated in several international projects funded by the European Commission and is actively involved in cross-country collaborations in the field of fair and affordable pricing initiatives.
  • Medical University Sofia (MUS): This Bulgarian institute is an autonomous specialized university for medical studies in Bulgaria. It collaborates closely with the Ministry of Health and contracts with over 50 university hospitals for student education. Researchers at MUS have expertise in healthcare financing, budgeting, access, pricing, affordability of medicines, HTA, pharmacoeconomics, and real-world data analysis, and have participated in several COST and Horizon 2020 projects.
  • Universidade NOVA de Lisboa(NOVA): This Portuguese university’s National School of Public Health (ENSP-NOVA), is a key partner in the AUGMENT Biosimilars project. ENSP-NOVA is recognized for its extensive expertise in health economics and public health, with over 250 publications in indexed scientific journals, and its members are frequently consulted by the European Commission for research at the European level.
consortium

Foto credit: private

 

Internal Subcontractors

  • Pedro Pita Barros is an expert from NOVA University in Portugal, who is subcontracted as a quality assurance consultant, contributing to the design of methodological tools and ensuring the study’s best practices and capacity-building activities are effective.
  • Gergely Németh is a pharmaceutical consultant and project manager at the National Institute of Health Insurance Fund Management in Hungary, is subcontracted as an external data analyst to support the conceptualization of the PowerBI Dashboard.
  • BI Logic Business Intelligence Kft. is an IT development company based in Budapest, Hungary, specializes in using business intelligence tools to help clients realize their business potential through data analysis and is subcontracted to develop the project’s dashboard.

 

External Biosimilar Experts

A group of independent external biosimilar experts supports the project by providing valuable reviews of all deliverables, ensuring the quality of the research and recommendations. These experts bring a wealth of knowledge and experience in biosimilar policies and practices, contributing to the project's overall success.

  • Liese Barbier is a post-doctoral researcher. Her work focuses on regulatory, clinical, and policy aspects of medicinal products, including biosimilars.
  • Jaime Espin is a Professor at the Andalusian School of Public Health. He has served as an external advisor for the European Commission, a member of the Experts Committee on Pharmaceutical Policies of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), and a member of the Pricing Policy Group of the WHO/Health Action International Project on Medicines Prices and Availability.
  • Wolf-Dieter Ludwig is a C3 Professor of Internal Medicine at the Free University of Berlin, Chairman of the Drug Commission of the German Medical Association, and member of various editorial boards and committees, including the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
  • Tomáš Tesař is a Professor and Head of the Department of Organisation and Management in Pharmacy at the Pharmaceutical Faculty of Comenius University in Bratislava. He is also a member of the Reimbursement Committee for Drugs at the Slovak Ministry of Health.

 

Consultation with the NCAPR BSWG

The project collaborates closely with a subgroup of the National Competent Authorities on Pricing, Reimbursement, and Public Healthcare Payers (NCAPR network), namely the NCAPR Biosimilar Working Group (NCAPR BSWG). This collaboration ensures that the findings and recommendations are aligned with the needs of public authorities. Regular consultations with the NCAPR BSWG help to validate the study's methodology and findings, ensuring that the project remains relevant and impactful.