Stakeholders’ Influence Policy Making: Evidence from Healthcare

March 26th, 2026 – 16:30-17:30 at DiSA Aula Seminari 1

Arianna is a Lord Sainsbury’s Fellow at Imperial College Business School, with a joint appointment at the Centre for Health Economics and Policy Innovation and the Centre for Sectoral Economic Performance. Her research focuses on the determinants of pharmaceutical innovation. Arianna obtained her PhD from the London School of Economics, where she explored the role of patient organisations and other stakeholders in the innovation and access to medicines for rare diseases in high-income countries. She employs both quantitative and qualitative methods in her research, including econometric analysis, document analysis, and interviews.

Her research has been published in high-impact journals, such as the BMJ, Value in Health, and Social Science & Medicine, and has received media coverage in The Observer.

Prior to joining Imperial College, Arianna worked as a consultant for the World Bank and in HEOR consultancies, specialising in health economics and market access. She holds an MSc in International Health Policy (Health Economics) with Distinction from the London School of Economics and a BSc in International Economics with Honours from the University of Padova.

This seminar examines how stakeholder influence shapes public policy, with a particular focus on health policy and pharmaceutical reimbursement decisions. Drawing on a case study of patient organisations’ involvement in health technology assessment (HTA) in the United Kingdom, it explores the benefits and risks associated with stakeholder participation across different phases of the policymaking process. While patient organisations can enhance the legitimacy, relevance, and ethical grounding of reimbursement decisions, especially in the context of rare diseases, their financial ties with pharmaceutical companies raise concerns about conflicts of interest and undue influence. Using original document analysis of Highly Specialised Technology appraisals conducted by NICE, the seminar assesses how patient inputs are incorporated into final decisions and whether funding relationships align with commercial interests. The findings highlight inconsistencies in the consideration of patient evidence, limitations of current disclosure-based governance frameworks, and the need to move beyond transparency alone. 

Lasts: 1hr with QA