It could have been a lot worse. Earlier this month, after five negotiation rounds, AstraZeneca and Germany’s statutory health insurance fund association, the GKV, agreed a price for clot-buster Brilique (Brilinta in the US). The price came in at about 17% below AZ’s original ‘free’ price — including the country’s mandatory 16% rebate. As the first drug to go through — and emerge from — Germany’s no-nonsense new reimbursement system (AMNOG), Brilique’s price sends some … Continue reading
Time to Knock RCTs Off Their Perch, Says NICE’s Rawlins
It’s about time randomized controlled trials (RCTs), the bread-and-butter of clinical drug development, were knocked off their perch at the top of the evidence hierarchy. That’s the view of NICE Chairman Michael Rawlins, delivering the annual Office of Health Economics lecture at the Royal Society of Physicians in London on June 18. It’s a view worth noting – and exploring – given that Rawlins helms what’s arguably the most influential Health Technology Assessment body in … Continue reading
The Ugly Truth: Pharma’s Poorly Placed to Address Payor Pressures
That was the message from Citi’s healthcare conference held in New York back in February. It’s not a new message, but as with any information that’s vital to a sector’s future, it has to be told again and again. So just how ugly is this ugly truth: well, really ugly if you’re GSK with a payor-unfriendly portfolio including the likes of primary care drug Advair (class competition from Symbicort) and late-stage pipeline candidates like diabetes me-too Syncria. … Continue reading
ASCO Highlights New Drugs, ISPOR How They’ll Be Paid For
It was perhaps a sign of the changing — but not changed — times that last week’s ASCO meeting, highlighting the next-generation of promising new cancer drugs, overlapped almost perfectly with a gathering designed to help figure out how these new treatments will be paid for. ISPOR (the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research) held its annual jamboree in Washington DC June 2-6, making it very tricky for any single person to understand … Continue reading
The Healthcare Round-Up: May 27 – June 1
Pick up your jumbo pack of toilet paper –and health insurance too. What started as a quiet partnership between club warehouse wholesaler Costco and insurance giant Aetna has now expanded to include relationships in nine states with two more pending approval. Two years ago, the two joined forces to provide Costco Personal Health Insurance, a health insurance program that offers consumers five options in terms of medical and dental coverage. Costco sees the tie-up as … Continue reading