In "Collaborating for Affordable Patient Access to Medicines: Review of the First Decade of the Beneluxa Initiative in Pharmaceutical Policy", recently published in Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, the Beneluxa Initiative looks back at ten years of the Beneluxa Initiative and its lessons learnt. Authored by technical experts involved in the Initiative, the paper offers the first comprehensive, inside-perspective overview of Beneluxa's work since its founding in 2015.
Key findings:
- Over its first decade, Beneluxa conducted 15 joint Health Technology Assessments (HTAs) and 4 joint negotiations, three of which resulted in multi-country reimbursement agreements (nusinersen, onasemnogene abeparvovec, and atidarsagene autotemcel).
- While public attention often centres on joint negotiations, the article highlights that these represent only one part of Beneluxa's work, which follows a comprehensive product life-cycle approach - from horizon scanning through joint HTA to price negotiations.
- A flagship outcome of the collaboration was the creation of the International Horizon Scanning Initiative (IHSI) in 2019, now an independent legal entity supporting public authorities in nine countries in horizon scanning activities.
The authors conclude that the "proof of concept" for cross-border collaboration in pharmaceutical policy has been established, while stressing that clarity of objectives, sufficient resources, aligned processes, and strong interaction between policymakers and technical experts are essential success factors.
Lessons from Beneluxa's joint HTA experience are already informing the implementation of the EU's Health Technology Assessment Regulation (HTAR).
The article is open access and available via the journal's website: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40258-026-01057-z
Cite as: Vogler, S., Knoll, V., Sonemann, A., Quanten, A., Adams, R., de Jager, T., van de Casteele, M. & Timmers, L. Collaborating for Affordable Patient Access to Medicines: Review of the First Decade of the Beneluxa Initiative in Pharmaceutical Policy. Appl Health Econ Health Policy (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40258-026-01057-z
Last update: 11 August 2026