Featured Insights

February 13, 2019
AJMC
Examining New Payment Ideas for Curative Therapies
How can the health industry ensure that cutting-edge gene therapies and other curative treatments get to the patients that need them, without leaving payers financially exposed? Jane F. Barlow, MD, MPH, MBA, was a speaker at the FoCUS (Financing and Reimbursement of Cure in US) Project at MIT, during the session "Putting Theory into Practice" she was quoted saying the “accessibility issue lies largely with payers.” All payers are different, and “a lot has to do with how they manage risk in their population as well as the regulatory constraints."
read full insight article >
January 28, 2019
STAT
AstraZeneca strikes a ‘novel’ deal with Medicare plan to lower patient out-of-pocket costs
In a novel bid to lower medicine costs, a drug maker has agreed to adjust the discounts that a Medicare Part D plan will receive for a treatment based on how patients respond — and the deal automatically lowers out-of-pocket costs for patients, as well. “One of the major problems we have in getting drug therapy used by people who really need it is that, for those people who are on Medicare, who have to pay co-insurance or copays, there is no really good way for manufacturers to provide copay assistance, because they are not allowed to do so,” said Roger Longman.
read full insight article >
November 18, 2018
STAT
What rebates? Express Scripts touts a new plan to appease critics of the opaque drug-pricing system
Amid national angst over prescription drug pricing, Express Scripts is touting a new scheme it says will lessen the behind-the-scenes role that rebates play in rising costs. In effect, Express Scripts would create a two-tier system for its customers which could choose between a formulary with a high list price and high rebate, or the newer plan that will offer a lower list price and lower or no rebate.
read full insight article >
November 5, 2018
BioCentury
Backing into Value with Part B
Jeff Berkowitz, CEO, Real Endpoints' is quoted, "It becomes a global index that reflects the value as seen by number of different entities against all of the other choices they need to make from a health delivery perspective."
read full insight article >
October 17, 2018
Scrip Pharma Intelligence
Teva Stands By Migraine Strategy After Ajovy Misses Boat On Express Scripts Deal
Agreement between Amgen/Novartis and Eli Lilly with Express Scripts on new migraine drugs could spur more demand by payers for simple, value-based outcomes deals. The news is a big blow for Ajovy (fremanezumab-vfrm), as Express Scripts covers 30% of commercially insured patients in the US
read full insight article >
July 2, 2018
BioCentury
Defining access potential – Before it’s too late
Confirmation bias: when innovators believe in a drug, find the evidence to support its value, and dismiss or ignore the facts challenging their preferred story. Industry and its investors need a clear, objective lens through which they can burn away confirmation bias and see the likely access barriers their drugs will face once approved
Read full insight article >
June 18, 2018
Depression Rising (Again): Turning the Corner in Psychiatry’s Most Burdensome Disorder
For all of the millions who suffer from depression, the biological underpinnings of clinical depression are still not fully understood. With several high profile approval decisions and possible launches on the horizon, the stage is thus set for an emerging commercial case characterized by a new wave of effective anti-depressants, an increasingly influential assortment of payers and practitioners with generic but often ineffectual pharmacotherapy options at their disposal, and of course patients with an unabating level of need and strikingly high placebo response-rates. How will it play out?
read full insight presentation >
March 26, 2018
“Manufacturers are realizing that this is going to be a feature of the landscape and some have begun to think about it as a mutual opportunity.” Steven Pearson, ICER
The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review is rapidly becoming the closest thing the U.S. has to an HTA agency. The credibility afforded by ICER’s independent status, and its inclusion of diverse stakeholder views in constructing its cost effectiveness analyses, are leading payers and PBMs to use the analyses to establish coverage criteria, determine formulary placement and negotiate discounts from drug manufacturers.
read full insight article >
February 20, 2018
Harvard Pilgrim and Illumina sign first-of-its-kind value-based contract
Real Endpoints plays a valuable role in orchestrating a first-of-its-kind value-based contract between Harvard Pilgrim and Illumina by introducing the parties and helping to craft the deal structure. Real Endpoints will provide all analytics and financial reconciliation for the initiative.
read full press release >
January 11, 2018
Ophthalmology Innovation Summit
Drug Pricing Pro Roger Longman of Real Endpoints Says Spark Therapeutics Is Making the Right Moves
Roger Longman, CEO of Real Endpoints, a firm assisting pharma companies with their pricing strategies, discusses the state of the value-based pricing market while lending some insights on what specialty drug companies like Spark can do to get payers on board with higher prices.
Listen to full insight podcast >
May 16, 2017
BioCentury
Contracting 2.0: The Why, When, How — And Why Not — Of Value-Based Deals
Learn why are we are seeing increasing numbers of value-based deals in the industry, how they are structured and when they make sense.
Read full insight article >
May 3, 2017
Real Endpoints' White Paper
Preferences in MS Therapy: White Paper and Literature Review
Real Endpoints, LLC (RE), a data and analytics firm that assesses and quantifies pharmaceutical value, just published a white paper and extensive literature review to tease out how different stakeholder groups (patients, payers and physicians) assess the value of current multiple sclerosis (MS) therapies.
Read full insight paper > Key Findings, Preferences in MS Therapy >
July 31, 2016
In Vivo
Smart Segmentation/ Success In The Payer-Dominated Pharma Marketplace
As physicians lose decision-making authority to payers, drug companies need to segment markets more effectively: the patient populations prescribers are most likely to treat and that will spark the fewest access battles; and the specific payer lines-of-business least inclined to block new drugs’ use.
Read full insight article >Insights

October 10, 2016
Talk at the Top Podcast
Roger Longman on the Drug Pricing War
Roger Longman speaks about drug pricing in the current environment, and how payers, pharma, and providers must adapt to ever-changing models of reimbursement.
Listen to the full insight interview >
July 18, 2016
In Vivo
The Value Lab: Moving Value-Based Health Care from Theory to Practice
A new, structured approach to bringing value-based reimbursement models into the mainstream is outlined, thus transforming reimbursement and fueling the shift from volume to value.
Read full insight article >
January 13, 2016
NEJM Catalyst
Who Has the Power to Cut Drug Prices?
Employers have the greatest potential to influence drug prices by being much more aggressive in getting PBMs and payers to have skin in the drug-pricing game.
Read full insight article >
January 1, 2016
Ernst & Young
The “Myth” of the Payer
Not all payers make their decisions the same way. Smart payer segmentation strategies are extremely important to successful biopharmas.
Read full insight article >
December 1, 2015
Harvard Business Review
Who Has the Power to Cut Drug Prices? Employers.
Employers have the greatest potential to influence drug prices by being much more aggressive in getting PBMs and payers to have skin in the drug-pricing game.
Read full insight article >
November 12, 2015
Journal of Clinical Pathways Viewpoints
Overcoming the Political and Economic Roadblocks Stopping Effective Comparative Drug Evaluation
Transparent comparative evaluations are necessary for determining the relative value of drugs. But, in part because of resistance from drug companies and payers, stakeholders are finding other tools to help identify the appropriate choices.
Read full insight article >National Business Director
Top 5 Pharma
Senior Director
Specialty Access Solutions, Top 5 Pharma
Director of Operations
Reimbursement and Patient Support Services, Top 20 Pharma
Chronis H. Manolis, RPh
Vice President, Pharmacy UPMC Health Plan
Jack Bailey
President , GlaxoSmithKline U.S.