About the Value of Treatment project

The Value of Treatment for Brain Disorders (VOT) is a health economics and outcomes research project coordinated by the European Brain Council (EBC). According to the World Health Organization, disorders of the brain affect up to one in three people worldwide. EBC conceptualised in 2015 the Value of Treatment research framework with a first VOT study to address current unmet needs in healthcare and the increasing all-age burden of brain disorders – both neurological and mental alike. Direct healthcare and non-medical costs of brain disorders are high, making up for 60% of the total costs (40% attributable to lost productivity) – which EBC estimated at 800 bln€/year in Europe (Gustavsson et al. in the European Neuropsychopharmacology, 2011). All types of costs increase with the severity and the chronification of the disease. Budgetary restrictions across the EU are threatening the sustainability of the European social welfare model as a whole and make it even more important to achieve cost-effectiveness in the use of resources in health systems and its deliverables. In particular, challenges are multiple because of the medical, social and economic impacts of chronic disabling conditions. Together these emphasise the need for an ambitious patient-empowering research policy and an integrated, multidisciplinary approach to brain disorders. 

Risk reduction, preclinical and early detection, and timely intervention are seen as the solutions to help national health systems and society cope. The VOT methodology (care pathways, outcome variables measurement including economic analysis) was developed accordingly and validated by the Board of EBC.  

Case studies are conducted in collaboration with experts from the EBC’s scientific societies and with the support of academic partners (working groups), applying empirical evidence from different European countries. 

Objectives

Identify treatment gaps (or barriers to care) and causing factors along the care pathway and propose solutions to address them.

Assess health gains and socio-economic impacts resulting from best practice healthcare interventions, in comparison with current care or inadequate treatment.

Converge data evidence to policy recommendations on how to improve the care pathways.

General aims

  • Target unmet needs to achieve high value for patients

  • Conduct cost-effectiveness analyses in health care (comparing costs and values of defined interventions) and assess the benefits of seamless, coordinated care by examining health services, patient outcomes and patterns of multidisciplinary care

  • Promote early intervention and a biopsychosocial approach to care

  • Propose solutions with societal impact and reflect on new research developments

  • Publish scientific articles 

Discover the Value of Treatment round 1 & 2, Transversal Topics and the Value of Education

Value of Treatment 2

Overarching scientific publications

The Value of Treatment: Early intervention to reduce the burden of brain disorders

EuroHealth Journal (January 2018)

Towards earlier diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the brain

WHO Bulletin (May 2018)

The Value of Treatment (VOT) project is supported through financial contributions from: 
 
Biogen, BMS-Pfizer Alliance, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, Grünenthal, Janssen, Livanova, Lundbeck, Medtronic, MSD, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Takeda, TEVA Pharmaceuticals, UCB Biopharma, EARLS, EURLSSG, Takeda, Reata, Ipsen, Biomarin, Servier, Roche, EPA and J&J. 

All outputs are non-promotional and not specific to any particular treatment or therapy. 

For more information on “Value of Treatment 1 & 2”, please contact: Vinciane Quoidbach – Public Health & Policy Research Project Manager (vinc@braincouncil.eu)
For more information on “Value of Treatment: Transversal Topics”, please contact: Elke De Witte– EBC Head of Project Development (eldw@braincouncil.eu)