This year, the Office of Health Economics is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Founded in 1962, at the time when international emphasis on prescription medicine efficacy and safety was just beginning, OHE has made significant contributions in several fields since that time.

We have a range of events and activities planned throughout the year, including those below.

OHE's Adrian Towse, Nancy Devlin, Jon Sussex

The speaker for our annual lecture, scheduled for June 18, will be Sir Michael Rawlins, who has been the Chairman of NICE since its formation in 1999. His topic, standards of evidence for prescription medicines, will address the appropriate use of randomised clinical trials.

A one-day autumn seminar will explore cutting-edge thinking in OHE’s three current areas of research: the financing and delivery of health care, health technology assessment methods and processes, and the economics of innovation in the life sciences and pharmaceutical industries. Experts and participants from around the world will contribute their perspectives. We expect to publish the results as both a blog series and as a single publication.

OHE’s contributions to the fields of health economics and health policy we will be highlighted in a “Best of OHE” selection that will draw from its publications over the past 50 years. In addition, for the first time, all of our publications – over 360 in total – will be available online from our website without charge.

As the year progresses, we will be announcing further details, both in this blog and on a dedicated page on the website.

We look forward to the year and hope that you will join us in the celebration!