Connecting Expertise Webinar: High-Cost Medicines

Date: Thursday, 5th November 2026 | 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Online (Microsoft Teams)
Chair: Professor Sinead Brophy

Overview
With health boards and medicines groups placing a strong focus on tracking specialised treatments, integrating datasets from platforms like Blueteq, the NHS online system used to approve and manage high-cost drugs, into secure data environments is essential for population health research.

This session brings together regional perspectives from across the HDR UK network to explore how high-cost medicines data is being harnessed, linked, and evaluated. 

Guest Speakers & Presentations
Prof Sinéad M Langan (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, HDR UK London, England Region): "Plans for regional collaboration in evaluating regional access to high-cost drugs"
Dr Christian Schnier (Queen's University Belfast, HDR UK N. Ireland Region): "Plans for examining high-cost drugs in respiratory health"
Dr Rod Middleton (UK MS Register, Swansea University, Wales Region): "Experience of using high-cost drug data in MS research"

Key Discussion Points

• High-Cost Medicines Focus: Regional priorities around specialised therapies, Blueteq systems, and national biologics registers.
• Data Linkage & Governance: Technical and ethical steps required to integrate secondary care medicines data into secure environments like SAIL.
• Cross-Regional Insights: Comparing approaches, challenges, and research opportunities across England, Northern Ireland, and Wales.
• Interactive Q&A: An open discussion to address shared hurdles and drive future collaborative research.

Registration
Free and open to clinicians, researchers, and data professionals.