IQWiG in the media

Stronger focus on the methods for conducting studies

In an interview with the Monitor Healthcare Research (Monitor Versorgungsforschung), the Institute’s Director, Thomas Kaiser, said that IQWiG no longer wants to assess drugs only after studies have been conducted, but rather to help answer the question of whether a new drug offers an advantage over existing treatment options from the outset.

Failure is part of a good error culture

In an interview with the Marburger Bund newspaper, which reaches 143,000 hospital doctors every month, IQWiG Director Thomas Kaiser talks about minimum volumes, minimum contingency rates, data collection and IQWiG's working methods.

Hindrance or help: Can we do without IQWiG?

In DocCheck’s ‘Fight Club’, Thomas Kaiser, Director of IQWiG, debates with DocCheck founder Frank Antwerpes whether IQWiG’s standards in the benefit assessment of new drugs are too strict.

“No essential need for new outcomes”

In an interview with “OPG Spezial”, Volker Vervölgyi explains why IQWiG believes there is no essential need for new outcomes in oncology studies.

"Doctors will still be able to prescribe all newly approved drugs"

In January 2025, the new procedure for European benefit assessments of new drugs will start: the EU Health Technology Assessment (HTA). In an interview with the German medical journal Deutsches Ärzteblatt, Regina Skavron, Head of IQWiG’s Division of Methodology and Coordination of European HTA, explains what this will change for doctors in Germany.

“We changed the world"

...is the answer given by IQWiG Director Thomas Kaiser in an interview with the journal Market Access & Health Policy when asked what headline he would like to use to describe his time as Director of the Institute.

"We want to make a conscious effort to promote dialogue with doctors in clinical practice”

In October 2024, IQWiG will be 20 years old. In an interview with Rheinisches Ärzteblatt, IQWiG Director Thomas Kaiser looks back and ahead.

Secret drug prices: Foul play against Europe and an own goal for the pharmaceutical industry - Observer Gesundheit (observer-gesundheit.de)

In a commentary for the Observer Gesundheit, IQWiG Director Thomas Kaiser criticizes the plans to introduce confidential reimbursement prices for drugs.

Please follow this link for an English translation of the commentary

Deadly prices

IQWiG has supported an important Europe-wide research project. For NDR, WDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung, among others, the Institute selected those 32 drugs from all new drug approvals in the last five years that had a "considerable” or “major” added benefit compared to the previous standard treatment. The IQWiG list was used for an article on www.tagesschau.de, which highlights the big differences in the provision of essential drugs in Europe.