21/04/2021 (Agence Europe) – The first interinstitutional (trilogue) meeting between European Parliament and EU Council negotiators on health technology assessment (HTA), (see EUROPE 11951/6) will take place on Monday 26 April, an EU source confirmed to EUROPE. While the Parliament had agreed its position as early as 2019 (see EUROPE 12095/12), it took more than three years for Member States to agree on a negotiating mandate (see EUROPE 12685/21). The main difference between the two institutions concerns the joint clinical evaluations that the draft regulation intends to introduce. The Parliament wants to make this mechanism binding. Member States want to remain free to draw their own conclusions on the overall clinical added value of a health technology. They also failed to reach a decision on the question of how the coordination group should vote (see EUROPE 12684/5). (AC)