Last year, Sanofi bought the biotech company Genzyme in a $20.1 billion deal that also included earn-outs tied to the biotech’s promising, albeit risky, multiple sclerosis drug Lemtrada. This week at the 2012 American Academy of Neurology meeting Sanofi reported eagerly awaited head-to-head trial data measuring the efficacy of the Phase III product against competitor Rebif. In a trial designed to drive market access in an increasingly competitive specialty arena, Lemtrada outshone Rebif: twenty-nine percent … Continue reading
Physician Engagement Is Key To Lowering Oncology Costs: A Conversation With Texas Oncology's Barry Brooks
“Oncology is unique, but it’s less unique than it used to be.” So said Daniel Mullins, a healthcare economist at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, during an opening workshop held April 18 at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy’s annual event in San Francisco. Such language is an overt acknowledgement that soaring oncology costs are a collective problem for US payers, many of whom are experimenting with evidence-based initiatives like cancer pathways or … Continue reading
Risk-Sharing: Not Easy, But Impossible To Ignore
So risk-sharing deals haven’t taken off with the gusto that their compelling logic suggests they should have. Even in Europe — the ripest territory for such contracts, given the alternative may be no reimbursement at all — there have been only a dozen or so deals. And several of those are mostly about sharing financial risk, rather than tying price or indeed payment to performance and outcomes. The hurdles are better documented than most of … Continue reading
The Healthcare Round-Up: 4/14 – 4/21
The next big data visualization graphic: This week Express Scripts published its annual drug report. The big news: the cost of nonadherence. Indeed, $317 billion of the $408 billion in pharmacy-related waste accumulated in 2011 was due to failed medical adherence, more money than the combined drug costs associated with treating diabetes, congestive heart failure and cancer – combined. Working towards solutions for nonadherence obviously frees up a lot of resources that might be devoted … Continue reading
The Healthcare Round-Up: 4/6 – 4/14
First ACO’s under Medicare’s Shared Savings Program: In addition to TEDMED, which this week gathered healthcare luminaries to discuss all things innovative, ACO was the other au courant acronym of the news cycle. Even as debate swirls about the fate of the healthcare reform law, there’s an obvious need to better coordinate healthcare, with ACOs being a topic of rare bipartisan politicking. Thus, its no surprise that accountable care organizations are alive—and growing rapidly—in numbers. … Continue reading
England Edges Toward National Cancer Tariff
April marks the start of an ambitious, if overdue, data collection project in the UK that could ultimately lead to England’s National Health Service paying a series of pre-determined tariffs for cancer drug procurement and delivery across all segments of the disease. If such standardized pricing materializes, the implications for pharma would be significant. The tariff idea isn’t new, and already exists for most acute services in England. But its expansion into areas such as … Continue reading
The Healthcare Round-Up: 3/28 – 4/4
Reducing unnecessary care: On Wednesday April 4, nine physician societies, together with the ABIM Foundation and Consumer Reports, released a list of 45 procedures or tests (5 per specialty) that are overused and adding to soaring healthcare costs as part of a new educational initiative called Choosing Widely. Another 8 specialty boards are preparing lists of relevant tests their members should be more judicious about ordering. Once again it’s a reminder that there’s growing support … Continue reading