Announcements

Current & archive
Zostavax® for the prevention of herpes zoster and postherpetic neuralagia. Pilot assessment using the draft HTA Core Model for Rapid Relative Effectiveness Assessment. Pilot-ID: WP-SA-1
Herpes Zoster (Shingles) primarily occurs in people over 50 years old. The disease is hardly lethal, however, it is often associated with long-term pain (postherpetic neuralgia) and decreased quality of life. Since 2006, a vaccine against Herpes Zoster (Zostavax®) has been licensed for persons aged 50+. Completed studies so far have shown that vaccination decreases Herpes Zoster incidence, however, the benefit for patients in terms of quality of life or long-term pain is unclear. Moreover, the vaccine’s efficacy in terms of Herpes Zoster incidence decreases substantially with age. Overall mortality and hospital admissions on a population level won’t be reduced with vaccination. Because safety data have indicated an increased risk for severe adverse events in people over 80 years of age after vaccination, members of this age group should rigorously weigh benefit against risks.
Publication: Decision Support Document Nr. 73: https://eprints.aihta.at/1013/
Contact: Ingrid Zechmeister-Koss
Horizon Scanning in Onkology - Reports
We are pleased to introduce two new HSO reports.
DSD HSO No. 39
Pomalidomide (Pomalyst®) for the ? 3rd-line therapy of patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma
DSD HSO No. 40
Regorafenib (Stivarga®) for heavily pretreated patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC)
Horizon Scanning in Onkology - Reports
We are pleased to introduce our new HSO report.
DSD HSO No. 38
Aflibercept (Zaltrap®) in addition to FOLFIRI for the 2nd line therapy of metastatic colorectal cancer
Cervical cancer screening: p16/KI-67 Dual Stain test (CINtec® PLUS) in the triage of equivocal results or mild to moderate dysplasia in pap cytology
Each year around 30 000 women in Austria receive a PAPIII or PAPIIID cytology result during routine cervical cancer screening. Roughly equivalent to ASC-US or LSIL cytology, the risk of progression to cancer for these patients is unclear and requires further diagnostic investigation: for many of the women the ensuing procedures and potential adverse effects turn out to be unnecessary. The p16/Ki-67 Dual Stain test (CINtec® PLUS) claims to improve the triage of these women. In a systematic review though we could not identify sufficient evidence to support the utility of the p16/Ki-67 Dual Stain test in the triage of equivocal or mild to moderate dysplasia results in Austria.
Publication: LBI-HTA Project report No. 72: https://eprints.aihta.at/1009/
Contact: Agnes Kisser