‍NEED is a 3-year research project aiming to identify and measure unmet health-related needs for a more needs-driven healthcare policy and innovation.

‍Newsletter #4

Winter 2024-25

We are pleased to share some updates regarding the NEED (Needs Examination, Evaluation, and Dissemination) project.

In recent months, our team has focused on preparing the next case study, which will address the evaluation of unmet health-related needs associated with psychotic disorders. Patient recruitment is due to begin early February. We are pleased to announce that Professor Isabelle Huys and her team from KULeuven will be collaborating with us on this important challenge, and we look forward to a productive partnership.

Additionally, we are proud to announce the publication of the 5th NEED report, which outlines the methodology used to select health conditions for the NEED research programme. As we cannot study all health conditions within this programme, due to limited resources, we have to make a selection out of all topics proposed following our call for topics and those identified through existing databases.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Muriel Levy, who has left KCE to take up a new professional challenge. Muriel played a major role in building the foundations of NEED.

Reflecting on 2024, we are grateful for the considerable progress and achievements of the NEED project. We are excited to continue this momentum into 2025.

In this newsletter, you will also find interesting upcoming events.

Happy reading!

 The NEED team

‍NEED updates and recent events



‍- The 5^th NEED report has been published! The report is describing a method for identifying and selecting health problems with potentially high unmet needs that should be studied as a priority when funding is limited.

- Data on the availability and effectiveness of treatments relating to long COVID have been included in the NEED database. These results were collected from seven Belgian long COVID experts. 

   - Irina Cleemput presented the NEED initiative at the minisymposium on “Advancing Pharmaceutical Innovation While Ensuring Healthcare Sustainability: A synergistic quest or futile endeavor?”, 11^th October 2024, Utrecht, the Netherlands. The minisymposium was organized by Prof. Dr. Wim Goettsch, preceding his inaugural lecture.

-‍ Irina Cleemput presented the NEED initiative and the outcome of the high-level conference under the Belgian presidency of the Council of the EU during the Dutch Medicines days, 16^th October 2024, Oss, the Netherlands. The Dutch Medicines Days conference unites pharmaceutical science professionals to share the latest research, exchange experiences, and foster collaborations across various sectors and international borders.

- Irina Cleemput presented NEED and more specifically the identification of unmet health-related needs in rare diseases at RaDiOrg’s membership day, 9th November 2024, Brussels, Belgium.

- Rani Claerman presented the NEED Delphi study at the European Public Health Conference 2024 in Lisbon, Portugal, 13-15 November 2024

‍Ongoing activities

‍Upcoming events

‍NEED in the press

‍What we are reading-publication of interest

        - https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)02352-3/fulltext

"Population-health impact of new drugs recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in England during 2000–2020: a retrospective analysis" by Naci et al., 2024

Between 2000 and 2020, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) appraised 332 new drugs, with 276 receiving positive recommendations. The study found that while these drugs generated an estimated 3.75 million additional quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) for 19.82 million patients, the overall population health impact was negative, with a net loss of 1.25 million QALYs due to the reallocation of resources away from other NHS services. This highlights the trade-offs between health gains from new drugs and the health forgone from funding those drugs at the expense of other treatments.

‍NEED is financially supported by the Belgian Federal Science Policy (BELSPO) through the INFRA-FED call.

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