IVI Opens Public Comment Period for Major Depressive Disorder Model Draft Protocol

Alexandria, VA, December 14, 2021 --(PR.com)-- The Innovation and Value Initiative (IVI), an independent nonprofit research organization dedicated to advancing patient-centric value assessment, today opened a public comment period for its Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) draft model protocol. The draft model protocol outlines the technical specifications and data sources that will guide development of the open-source MDD model going forward. The comment period will be open until January 18, 2022.

“Major Depressive Disorder is one of the most prevalent health conditions and commonly co-occurs with other diseases. With an enormous burden on productivity and on people’s lives, we need to better understand where we can identify value and the cost-benefit balance of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions,” said Jennifer Bright, IVI’s Executive Director. “We see this public comment period as an opportunity to advance our learning laboratory and determine new methods and use cases for examination using the model. We look forward to public feedback that helps enhance the MDD model so decision-makers can have better tools in their value assessment toolbox.”

IVI will hold a webinar on December 15 at 1:00 pm ET to provide an overview of the draft protocol and an orientation to the public comment process and areas where we are seeking feedback. Register for the webinar here.

IVI, together with their research partner OPEN Health, has worked to design the draft model protocol to incorporate information and data sources on patient preferences and experiences and bring them into the mechanics of value assessment models. IVI is seeking feedback in three main areas of the draft protocol:

Data gaps in key model inputs and potential data sources and partners to address such gaps;
Prioritization of data sources and technical approaches when multiple valid approaches exist;
Potential use cases - practical applied research questions - particularly how the MDD model can help inform decisions in specific contexts.

“Our model design incorporates key feedback from our MDD advisory group and people with lived experiences,” said Richard Chapman, IVI’s Chief Science Officer. “We are seeking feedback from the research and broader community – especially payers and purchasers – in navigating data gaps and identifying use cases. This will allow us to build a more useful and relevant model for different decision contexts. We understand thoughtful comments are time and labor intensive, and we’re appreciative of contributions to improve our MDD model specifically, and value assessment overall.”

IVI will be accepting comments and questions through email at public.comment@thevalueinitiative.org and through an online form. More information about the protocol and the public comment process is available on the IVI Website.