The Office of Health Economics Becomes a Registered Charity

On the 1st February 2017 OHE held a launch to celebrate our new status as a registered charity. The establishment of OHE as a charity offers new directions and new opportunities, and also brings new funding opportunities – for example, with UK research councils.

On 1st February 2017 OHE held a launch to celebrate our new status as a registered charity.

OHE’s Director, Professor Adrian Towse, and Director of Research, Professor Nancy Devlin, both made speeches at the event. Adrian’s speech can be accessed here; Nancy’s can be accessed here.

The establishment of OHE as a charity offers new directions and new opportunities, and also brings new funding opportunities – for example, with UK research councils.

OHE’s research programme is focused on three principal themes:

• the economics of health technology assessment (HTA)
• the economics of industry
• the economics of health care systems.

We will continue to undertake research in these areas and seek to develop an increasingly global focus, capitalising on their UK expertise in HTA and the economics of the life sciences industry.

OHE’s charitable objective going forward is to serve the public interest by providing research and analysis that will increase understanding of health, health care and biomedical research issues and public policy challenges.

OHE’s new status as a charity has introduced further transparency and clarity into its ownership and governance arrangements, with greater independence from the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI).

“The establishment of OHE as a charity marks an achievement but also, more importantly, a beginning. We are excited about the opportunities and welcome the challenges ahead!” Professor Nancy Devlin, OHE Director of Research, speaking at the launch night.

About OHE

OHE was first established by the ABPI in 1962. In those early years, there was a pricing agreement in place between industry and government but little was known about R&D and investment, how to measure quality of life or health status and whether medicines represented value for money. OHE was set up to answer these questions.

Early examples of our work include:

For more information see the about us section of the OHE website. 

Our publications, dating back to 1962, are available to download free of charge here.