[e-drug] Summer courses in Utrecht, The Netherlands

E-DRUG: Summer courses in Utrecht, The Netherlands
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Dear E-Druggers,

This summer, the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Clinical Pharmacology at Utrecht University, the Netherlands, offers you again three challenging international summer courses:

25-29 June 2012 - Pharmacoepidemiology & Drug safety

2-6 July 2012 - Pharmaceutical Policy Analysis (in collaboration with WHO)

9-13 July 2012 - Pharmacoeconomics

More detailed information can be found below or on the summer school website (www.utrechtsummerschool.nl). All courses will cover the key issues in each field and focus on the most important research methods used. All course teachers have extensive expertise in their field.

A few scholarships are available for the Pharmaceutical Policy Analysis course. These scholarships include course fee, basic student housing as described on the summer school website and a small daily allowance to cover expenses for food and local transport. International travel is at the expense of the applicant or his/her institution. If you wish to apply for a scholarship, please do so before 15 April by sending an application letter including motivation plus CV to Aukje Mantel (a.k.mantel@uu.nl). All applicants will be notified by 1 May 2012.

Supplementary, there is a cultural and social programme arranged for you to make sure that you experience the best of Utrecht. We look forward to welcoming you in Utrecht!

Warm wishes,

Aukje Mantel

M7 Pharmaceutical Policy Analysis (2-6 July 2012)

Medicines are among the most regulated products in society. From the earliest pre-clinical stages onward, policy makers want to foster the development of safe, effective and affordable medicines for patients in need of pharmacotherapy. When a drug reaches the market, it is the beginning of a process of complex interactions between patients, prescribers, insurers, pharmaceutical companies and governments. Furthermore, the inequity in access to medicines is still a defining characteristic of the global pharmaceutical market place.

The aim of the course is to give students insight into current developments in pharmaceutical policy making as well to give a better understanding of the methods available for analysing the effects of policy interventions. As a collaborator on this course, the World Health Organization will provide faculty for several of the sessions.

You will experience an intensive programme covering the following topics:

Pharmaceutical Policy Analysis issues and methods; current challenges in drug innovation; access, affordability and reimbursement systems; regulatory issues and challenges; policy and politics; synthesis, case studies & public health

Course directors: Prof. Dr. Bert Leufkens, Dr. Richard Laing (World Health Organization) and Dr. Aukje Mantel.

M8 Pharmacoepidemiology & Drug Safety (25-29 June 2012)

With the prospect that innovative drug therapies will be introduced in the coming years, society demands new approaches and concepts for comparative risk/benefit evaluation. Assessment of safety and risk management of different drug therapies is done in the framework of observational epidemiological studies (proof of ‘safety’, proof of ‘effectiveness’). This is the logical next step after randomized clinical trials, which are designed to provide evidence of a drugs ‘efficacy’.

The course will cover key issues in pharmacoepidemiologic and drug safety research.

Special topics include databases and molecular pharmacoepidemiology. Students will learn about the typical problems (e.g. confounding by indication, rare side effects) and approaches to deal with these problems in the practice of pharmacoepidemiology.

You will experience an intensive programme covering the following topics:

Study Design and Methods; Confounding and other biases; Methods in drug safety research; Drug Safety and Risk Management; Overview of Pharmacoepidemiological databases; Molecular Pharmacoepidemiology; Drug utilization research; Synthesis, case studies & public health

Course directors: Dr. O.H. Klungel and Dr. T.P. van Staa
Lecturers: Prof. S. Suissa, Prof. H.G.M. Leufkens, Prof. A. de Boer, Prof. A.C.G Egberts, Dr. O.H. Klungel, Dr. T.P. van Staa, Dr. F. de Vries

M14 Pharmacoeconomics (9-13 July 2012)

Today's society is confronted with ever increasing health care costs. One of the factors is the cost of drug innovations. Diseases waiting for therapeutic solutions are complicated and multifactorial in nature. As a result, drug innovation has become even more complex leading to high tech and therefore high cost solutions. The question arises, what is the added value of such high cost innovations and how can it be determined when both benefit and harm are considered. Health economics, and more specific pharmacoeconomics, aims to provide a neutral scientific approach to this challenge.

This course aims to provide a broad perspective of the field, including a variety of subjects from views of the different stakeholders to more in depth methodological approaches, illustrated with examples and exercises.

You will experience an intensive programme covering the following topics:

Pharmacoeconomic techniques; Study designs and methods; Critical appraisal of pharmacoeconomic studies; The (im)possibilities of the use of HTA and pharmacoeconomics in regulatory decisions; The economics of personalized medicine; Pharmacoeconomics of orphan drugs

Course directors: Dr. A.H. Maitland-van der Zee and Dr. A. Hovels
Lecturers: Prof. J. Raaijmakers, Prof D. Veenstra, Dr. A.H. Maitland-van der Zee and Dr. A. Hovels, and others

General information for all courses

Target groups

(Post)graduates and professionals within governments, NGOs, industry, universities with a basic knowledge public health/medicine who have an interest in the policy aspects of pharmaceuticals, pharmacoepidemiology and/or pharmacoeconomics.

Fee and combinations

€900,- per course (including course materials + lunches + course dinner, excluding housing). Combination fee for two courses is €1400,- (excluding housing), combination fee for all three courses combined is €1800,- (excluding housing)

Deadline for application

31 May 2012, see www.utrechtsummerschool.nl (information summer school and course registration)