Polyvalent immunoglobulins – Part 1 and 2

Health Technology Assessment (HTA)

Immunoglobulins, which are produced from human plasma, are invaluable and costly medicines used to treat equally rare and sometimes very serious diseases. There is an ever increasing risk of shortage, both in Belgium and worldwide, which means that strategies must urgently be devised with a view to a better control of their supplies and optimisation of the way they are used. The KCE has been entrusted with carrying out an evaluation of their effectiveness and making an estimate of the quantities our country ought to be able to have at its disposal in the years to come.

Our country recognises eight diseases giving rise to a reimbursement of immunoglobulins, but other countries recognise more. In the first part of the study we went over the scientific evidence supporting the use of Ig in the treatment of these eight diseases, as well as in the treatment of the main other diseases recognised in other countries.

The second part of the research focuses on the situation in Belgium. The aim here is to estimate the quantities of Ig that our country ought to be able to have at its disposal in the coming years, on the basis of current uses and emerging trends, and to draw up recommendations for stocks of Ig to be shared out as equitably as possible in the event of imminent shortage.

• KCE Reports 327: Polyvalent immunoglobulins – Part 1: A rapid review
• KCE Reports 336: Polyvalent immunoglobulins – Part 2: Use in Belgium