I’m very pleased to share the publication of a special themed issue of Applied Health Economics and Health Policy on the “Health Economics of Genomic Technologies” that I co-edited with Deirdre Weymann and Ilias Goranitis.
https://link.springer.com/journal/40258/volumes-and-issues/23-3
This special issue contains 12 papers that summarise existing evidence on the value attached to the use of genomic technologies in a variety of clinical contexts, and present new health evidence for the USA, Australia, Canada, Scotland and Thailand.
We have also written an accompanying editorial that reflects on the findings in these papers, and highlights challenges and opportunities on the horizon for health economists.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40258-025-00970-z
Here are the concluding comments:
The 12 papers in this themed issue provide a comprehensive overview of the current evidence base and research focus of the field of health economics and genomics, which has evolved considerably over the past two decades. Today, a growing number of health economists apply cutting-edge methods to value the costs and benefits of innovative genomic interventions with the potential to transform population health and well-being.
However, there are challenges on the horizon. Many of the publications in this themed issue have clear policy relevance, but the extent to which economic evidence actually informs healthcare decision making in this clinical context is unclear, particularly non-traditional health technology assessment evidence on patient preferences and evidence derived from real-world data. While some jurisdictions are signalling increasing acceptability of patient preference information and real-world evidence for health technology regulation and reimbursement, apprehension remains. Formal, harmonised, stakeholder-driven guidance is needed to ensure uptake of this health economic evidence into precision medicine decision making.
A second challenge is the pace at which new applications of genomic technologies are emerging. The papers in this special issue broadly consider the value of genomic information in specific cancer, rare disease or chronic disease contexts. These cases likely represent just a subset of all future applications. There is growing interest in understanding the costs and benefits of newborn genome sequencing, polygenic risk scores, and multi-cancer early detection tests. In health economics more generally there is a move towards equity informative economic evaluation, and genomics is one context in which issues around equity and fairness may fundamentally impact on estimates of value. Finally, there is a growing need to understand the value of genomics at the population (macro) level, as well as in specific geographic contexts such as lower- and middle-income country settings. To date, health economists have undertaken little to no research on these topics for genomics. This should change in the coming years, and we are excited to see how this field of research continues to develop in the next decade.
All thoughts welcome!
Health Economics and Genomics 