It may be Orion/Endo’s ODM-201, a potentially first-in-class anti-androgen to treat metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, that’s generating the most buzz ahead of this weekend’s European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) meeting in Vienna. But payers and physicians have a much more pressing concern: how to objectively evaluate two competing anti-androgens, Janssen’s Zytiga and Medivation/Astellas’s newly approved Xtandi, already on the market to treat advanced prostate cancer in the post-chemotherapy setting. A review of peer-reviewed published … Continue reading
Zeke Emanuel: Re-Incentivizing Pharma & Device Companies to Solve Technology’s Data Problem
Zeke Emanuel would like to set the record straight. He’s not against new medical technology. Indeed, the UPenn med school and Wharton professor calls the profusion of industry-generated new technologies “a great thing”. But his support is necessarily tempered — a wariness born from his days as a health policy advisor in the Clinton and Obama administrations. Emanuel’s willingness to critique newer, costlier innovations that deliver results no better than older, cheaper technologies has made … Continue reading
Patient-Based Pricing: An Answer To The Soaring Cost of Innovation?
Roche’s investor day on Sept. 5 provided heartening news for breast cancer patients. Executives outlined an array of increasingly targeted therapeutic permutations to combat the tumor, building on its leadership with Herceptin. But payers will have come away worried. The slew of new drugs, combinations and conjugates points to rapidly-multiplying per-patient costs, as (likely) premium-priced individual treatments are teamed up. Roche seems to be aware of the tension. Even as it promoted more effective versions of existing … Continue reading
Europe’s New Season HTA: German System Beds Down; NICE Grip Tightens
European HTA officers return to their offices after the summer break with more job-confidence than many other health care stakeholders. Rather like lawyers, their role will become more important as budget pressures mount amid continued European economic turmoil. Indeed, the Germans are patting themselves on the back for their new early-benefit assessment system: G-BA Chairman Josef Hecken on Sept. 3 in Berlin declared the system “transparent, legally secure and predictable” with decisions based on “clear, … Continue reading
The Healthcare Round-Up: August 3 -19
The Olympics (and shark week) are over, the dog days have officially arrived, and here at the West Coast branch of Real Endpoints, it’s back to work as the little people head back to school. (Already!) Given Mitt Romney’s choice of Paul Ryan as his running mate, it’s a sure bet healthcare (especially Medicaid and Medicare) will remain a subject of debate in the run-up to the presidential election. So will the subject of “big … Continue reading
Are Choppy Reimbursement Waters in the Forecast for Oncotype Dx?
Genomic Health’s Oncotype Dx, a 21-gene assay to predict breast cancer recurrence and chemotherapy response, is one of the market leaders in the brave and expensive new world of molecular diagnostics. Influential payers like Medicare and Blue Cross Blue Shield have endorsed the test, which lists for more than $4000; powerful societies like the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and the American Society of Clinical Oncology have also given the diagnostic their blessing. Meantime Oncotype Dx’s … Continue reading
Could German Pricing Reform Lead to More US-Style Payer Competition?
It’s an odd, chalk-and-cheese notion: that a typically European, rather socialist form of pricing and reimbursement reform such as AMNOG, Germany’s system of early added-benefit assessment for new drugs, could help drive more free-market-style competition between the country’s statutory health insurance (SHI) funds. There are signs that it’s happening, though — albeit via a roundabout route. That matters to pharma, since more competition among payers means a more aggressive efficacy drive. That may in turn … Continue reading
Orphan vs Effectiveness: German Payers Win 11% Discount on Esbriet
InterMune’s orphan drug for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), Esbriet, on July 23 became the second product to be priced within Germany’s new reimbursement system. The result: an almost 11% discount on the drug’s initial ‘free’ price in Germany (in place since September 2011), on top of the 16% mandatory rebate that for now affects all drugs in Germany. Superficially, that looks like a clear win for payers. But it’s not entirely bad news for pharma either — … Continue reading
First ‘Added Benefit’ Net Price In Germany Pulls Brilique Down 17%
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
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