Institute for Quality and Efficacy in Health Care
|
This article is part of the Pharma_Portal project of Spinwatch. |
The Institute for Quality and Efficacy in Health Care (IQWiG) is an independent scientific institute that investigates the benefits and harms of medical interventions for patients. It claims to 'regularly provide information about the potential advantages and disadvantages of different diagnostic and therapeutic interventions.' The Institute's primary goal is to contribute to improvements in health care in Germany.
History
The Institute was established on the 1 June 2004 in the course of the Health Care Reform as an institution of the Foundation for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care, to undertake commissions from the Federal Joint Committee and the Federal Ministry of Health in Germany.
Funding
The Institute is financed by a levy on inpatient and outpatient healthcare services, which are mainly reimbursed by the statutory health insurance (SHI) funds.
Findings
In June 2009, IQWiG announced that Pfizer was preventing the best possible treatment of patients with depression by hiding data on the effect of Edronax containing reboxetine. The institute claimed the drug company refused to provide a complete list of all published and unpublished trials on reboxetine, but through an independent literature review found 9 out of 16 trials were missing key information that needed to be used to evaluate the drug. The institute called for an 'EU-wide legal obligation, bound by tight deadlines, to publish the results of clinical trials' as is the case in the US since 2008.[1]
People
Director - Peter T. Sawicki
Contact
- Institut für Qualität und Wirtschaftlichkeit im Gesundheitswesen, Dillenburger Str. 27, 51105 Cologne, Germany
- +49 - (0)221 - 35685 - 0.
Resources
Notes
- ↑ IQWiG. Pfizer conceals study data. Accessed on 1 September 2009.
