Maryland PDAB
Patient and Public Engagement
Individuals or organizations who wish to comment on Board activities are encouraged to review past Board meeting minutes, submitted public comments, and other relevant documents via the Board website. Notably, the Board is currently inviting feedback on why substituting therapeutic alternatives could be problematic, highlighting an openness to understanding patient-specific treatment needs. Rapid, repeated comment opportunities create a participation burden that can narrow who meaningfully shapes the process.
Next Meetings
The next PDAB meeting date is September 28, and the next PDASC meeting is August 24.
HealthHIV’s Input
HealthHIV’s comments on draft COMAR 14.01.04 urged the Board to require condition-specific input before identifying therapeutic alternatives for HIV treatment, or prevention medications. The comments emphasized that the Board should consider clinical appropriateness, patient access through coverage and pharmacy channels, and effects on Ryan White, ADAP, Medicaid, and other safety-net systems. HealthHIV also noted that a 30-day comment period won’t provide enough time to develop that evidence. The Board considered cutting the public comment period on selected drugs from 60 days to 30 so comments could be reviewed before the next meeting. Members worried that 30 days could be too short for stakeholders and still might not fit staff’s dossier timeline, so they left the 60-day period in place for now and agreed to revisit it next year.
