The NIHR Leeds MIC work closely with the Test Evaluation Group in the Academic Unit of Health Economics (University of Leeds) to produce health economic evaluations for in vitro diagnostics (IVD) at all stages of development. Evaluations focus on identifying the optimal placement of an IVD within existing NHS care pathways and describe the health and economic consequences of introducing a new test to the NHS. Evaluations can be undertaken at any stage of technology development, with earlier evaluations identifying key drivers of cost-effectiveness and areas of uncertainty to focus future research efforts on. Later stage economic evaluations, conducted when evidence on clinical validity and clinical utility becomes available, can be used to inform commissioning or adoption decisions.
The NIHR Leeds MIC have an extensive portfolio of economic evaluation projects and can work up a proposal for your technology, either to be funded by the industry partner themselves or by public funding bodies. We have a strong track record in collaborating on public funding grants, successfully securing grants from SBRI, Innovate UK, NIHR, MRC and charities such as CRUK.
We are also internationally recognised for our methodological work in this area. We have published extensively on the role of early economic evaluation in test evaluation and are currently exploring how this methodology can be integrated into the development of target product profiles across different clinical areas. We also have expertise in discrete event simulation modelling, estimating the impact that a new IVD would have on NHS capacity and resource use where appropriate. Dr Bethany Shinkins leads a multidisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Leeds who specialise in test evaluation and sits on multiple external advisory boards for test evaluation research programmes and projects. Dr Alison Smith is an expert consultant on the EFLM Test Evaluation Group. Dr Gurdeep Sagoo specialises in the evaluation of AI and genomic technologies.
