The European Commission's Directorate‑General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) has issued a new report on emerging health technologies, shifting the focus from ad hoc horizon scanning to a more structured, EU‑level evidence base for joint health technology assessment and downstream pricing debates. The document consolidates recent work on digital tools, data‑driven diagnostics and advanced therapies, and sets out priority areas where EU institutions and national authorities will expect earlier and more granular evidence from developers.
The report sits between the implementation of the EU Health Technology Assessment Regulation and national reimbursement decisions. It gives the Commission and Member States a common reference point when they debate which technologies should move fastest through joint clinical assessment and which pose systemic affordability or equity risks. This effectively strengthens the agenda‑setting role of DG SANTE and the emerging HTA coordination structures at EU level, while reducing the space for purely national narratives about what counts as ‘innovative’.
The paper is a one‑off strategic report rather than a recurring update, but the Commission signals that its priorities will feed into future joint work programmes and methodological guidance. It highlights timelines that align with the phased application of the HTA Regulation from 2025 onwards, implying that technologies flagged in this round of analysis could be among the first to face more harmonised EU scrutiny.
For developers, the main impact lies in earlier convergence of evidentiary expectations across large markets, more visible political attention to budget impact and system‑level disruption, and tighter coupling between EU‑level assessments and national access negotiations.
Source: Directorate‑General for Health and Food Safety
Link: New report on Emerging Health Technologies - press release
New report on Emerging Health Technologies - document
Date: 9 January 2026
