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Edward R.S. Cliff, MBBS, MPH, FRACP

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Edward R.S. Cliff, MBBS, MPH, FRACP

Clinical Haematologist

Clinical Research Fellow, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute

Edward Cliff is a research collaborator with PORTAL and a clinical haematologist from Australia who trained at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Austin Hospital. He is an honorary clinical lecturer at the University of Melbourne. He undertook a Master of Public Health in health policy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Program on Regulation, Therapeutics and Law at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. His clinical and research interests lie at the intersection of lymphoma, myeloma, CAR T-cell therapy, health economics and health policy. He has published more than 80 peer-reviewed manuscripts in journals including NEJM, JAMA, JCO, and Blood. He is co-host of the podcast Blood Cancer Talks, and a passionate musician and runner in his spare time.

Featured Work

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Global Access to Commercial CAR T Cells: A Cross-Sectional Study of Health Technology Assessment in the G20

Ge AY, Feldman WB, Kaiser MF, Rejeski K, Iacoboni G, Narula G, Chan JY, Dickinson M, Kesselheim AS, Cliff ERS - Blood

Research Publications

| April 2026

Price, Value, and Access
Regulation and Clinical Evidence

Fewer than half of FDA-approved CAR T-cell therapy indications are reimbursed by health systems in the G20 countries, despite their strong clinical benefits. Many national health technology assessments cited high costs, limited evidence maturity, logistical challenges, and uncertainty about long-term outcomes as barriers to coverage, highlighting the need for new strategies and policy interventions to expand global patient access to CAR T therapies.

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High Cost of Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cells: Challenges and Solutions

Cliff ERS, Kelkar AH, Russler-Germain DA, Tessema FA, Raymakers AJN, Feldman WB, Kesselheim AS - American Society of Clinical Oncology Educational Book

Commentary & Opinion

| June 2023

Price, Value, and Access

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells are a cellular immunotherapy with remarkable efficacy against hematologic malignancies, yet they come with extremely high prices that are prohibitive for many countries. The authors review the factors that impact the high cost of CAR T therapy and propose reforms to improve affordability and access.

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Clinical Benefit and Regulatory Outcomes of Cancer Drugs Receiving Accelerated Approval

Liu ITT, Kesselheim AS, Cliff ERS - JAMA

Research Publications

| May 2024

Regulation and Clinical Evidence

Among a 5-year cohort of cancer drugs approved by the FDA under accelerated approval, only half of approvals demonstrated improvements in overall survival or quality of life in confirmatory trials, with 60% of conversions to full approval relying on clinical endpoints.

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