Beneluxa Initiative further strengthened as Ireland joins the collaboration
- August 22, 2018
On 22 June 2018, Ireland joined the Beneluxa Initiative on Pharmaceutical Policy. What has the initiative accomplished to date, and what will the addition of a fifth member mean for the future? Introduction to the Beneluxa Initiative The Beneluxa Initiative aims to improve patient access to innovative drugs in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Austria and now […]
Powering the healthcare system – when should infrastructure investment take priority over new drugs?
- August 15, 2018
Healthcare is under substantial economic strain: with estimates that healthcare spending in OECD countries could increase to 6% of GDP by 20501. Reimbursement decisions for high-cost drugs are often the subject of public and political debate while less media attention is given to the funding of the overall healthcare infrastructure. However, is it in patients’ […]
Canada looks to reduce time between regulatory approval and reimbursement recommendations for prescription drugs
- March 12, 2018
An important change has been made to Canada’s Common Drug Review (CDR) program, which will be effective from the 2nd April 2018. It means that: CDR assessments can potentially proceed concurrently with Health Canada reviews. It should eliminate major delays between Health Canada’s approval and the final reimbursement recommendation. It further aligns the processes of […]
Does the NHS benchmarking tool (PPIB) mark an end for confidential discounting?
- December 18, 2017
In 2015, Lord Carter published an independent report on operational performance and productivity for the UK national health service (NHS)1. Recommendations outlined how the NHS could save £5 billion by improving operational consistency between trusts. Over the last 18 months, the NHS has set about implementing these recommendations and, in January 2017, a new procurement […]
Enabling market access through outcomes-based pricing
- May 25, 2017
With the need to contain healthcare costs, payers often adopt selection criteria aimed at limiting the brands that are reimbursed and the price of those products. In some cases focus on cost containment can compromise patient access to new and innovative treatments. The need to establish a balance between cost containment and patient access pushes […]
Cell and gene therapy: Are payers willing to pay for a cure?
- May 5, 2017
Finding a cure for debilitating conditions is a long-standing aspiration for many working within the pharmaceutical industry. Indeed, when news broke out of a 15-year-old boy with Sickle Cell Anaemia experiencing 15 months without symptoms and routine treatment,1 interest in the curative potential of the novel gene therapy administered to the teenager increased. However, the […]
Ensuring orphan drug access amidst a more challenging environment
- April 19, 2017
Thomas Mueller, Head of Pharmaceuticals at the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA), stated at the Pharma Pricing and Market Access Congress in London, February 2017, that the association of orphan drug status with high prices cannot continue and that the only way for orphan drug pricing to go is down. Yet, due to the small target […]
Improving market access to immuno-oncology therapies
- April 4, 2017
The number of unmet needs, whether clinical, economic or humanistic, remains high in oncology, especially for patients with metastatic conditions. With positive clinical trial results in many cancer types, including melanoma, colon cancer, lung cancer, Hodgkin’s disease, leukaemia, and others, immuno-oncology therapies are offering patients a new treatment alternative.1 Interest in immuno-oncology has been piqued […]
Navigating the future of oncology market access
- March 29, 2017
According to many payers, the high prices of oncology medicines are not sustainable and there remains a gap between drug price and value.1 The rising costs of drug development, increased clinical demand and the need to recoup the cost of failed products, have led to new cancer treatments that come with a high price tag. […]
Payer-centric post-launch studies for optimal negotiations
- March 13, 2017
Many healthcare stakeholders want to ensure better health outcomes for patients. However, many new and innovative therapies enter the market with evidence gaps in their value proposition. Since tracking and measuring outcomes entails cost and time, many payers decide to go with simpler and more straightforward financial-based contracting agreements, such as discounting, price-volume agreements, and […]