Assessment of non-drug interventions

IQWiG is often perceived as a kind of “drug inspection agency”. However, the Institute also assesses non-drug interventions such as medical devices, diagnostic tests or psychotherapies.

The following comparison shows that some things are different:

	Drugs	Non-drug interventions
European product approval	Central approval (by EMA)	Decentral approval (e.g. by TÜV, the German Technical Inspection Agency)
Benefit assessment	Each new product is assessed (except for orphan drugs)	Only a few high-risk procedures and new outpatient procedures are assessed
Number of assessments per year	About 100-200	About 10-20
Basis of the benefit assessment	Manufacturer dossier (IQWiG conducts literature searches only for special projects)	IQWiG literature searches (manufacturer dossier only for high-risk medical devices)

However, the area of non-drug interventions and their assessment is much broader and more detailed than such a table would suggest. An overview is provided in the following five texts.

1. What are non-drug interventions?

2. When and how does IQWiG assess non-drug interventions?

3. What are the special challenges in the assessment of non-drug interventions?

4. Examples of the benefit, harm and potential of non-drug interventions

5. International comparison: how uniformly are non-drug interventions assessed on an international level?