In tasks 5 and 6, we will aim to facilitate the transfer of comparative

effectiveness data to other countries in order to make timely and sensible policy recommendations, even in the absence of relevant selleckbio evidence for the country of interest. This will be done by identifying key variability factors that, if collected for out-of-sample countries and used in the ROI model, could provide similar policy recommendations. Relevant parameters will be identified through importance analysis techniques which are quantitative approaches for estimating the impact of changes in input parameters on the output uncertainty.26 This will be tested by collecting those variables in a limited number of out-of-sample EU countries (n=3) as well as feedback from a range of stakeholders via workshops. The selection of these countries will be based on the following criteria: that they are significantly different from the four sample countries in terms of stage of tobacco control, health status and use of HTA in decision-making and that there is a higher potential to save life years from tobacco control and quit-support programmes. Tasks 4–6 will inform the creation of a web-based tool by combining information on core components and country-specific

components to allow timely and sensible policy recommendations for decision-makers across Europe. The country-specific ROI models developed for sample countries will be redeveloped and reprogrammed into a unified, web-based tool that can be used by other EU countries to estimate the ROI of their tobacco control agenda. Therefore, a fully validated generic web-based tool will ultimately become the final deliverable product of this project. In task 7, we will assess the most preferred method for communicating study findings to ensure that they are used to devise tobacco control policies across Europe. This will be achieved by an online survey and will

also be partly informed by the outcomes from task 1. Stakeholder engagement Key stakeholders will be identified right from the beginning (table 3). Stakeholders will provide key inputs to all stages of the research: needs identification Drug_discovery (including the need for a user-friendly interface), piloting and testing of ROI concepts and tools in the local setting, drawing policy implications, testing transferability assumptions and creating effective dissemination plan. Table 3 Stakeholder engagement in EQUIPT Ethics and dissemination The usual ethical issues—maintaining confidentiality, anonymity and data protection for primary data (eg, stakeholder interviews) and overall good research practice—apply to EQUIPT. As this research is led by Brunel University London, the Brunel University London Research Ethics Committee (UK) has reviewed this research and given full ethical clearance.