ICER Expanding Probe

A nonprofit group, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), recently received a three-year $13.9 million grant from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation to expand its ongoing investigative scope on drug pricing to include all new medicines and price increases on existing treatments. Up until now, ICER hasn’t had the resources to review all new medicines. The additional funding “puts us on a new trajectory,” according to Steven D. Pearson, president of ICER. “Now we’re going to be able to cover the landscape.” ICER was essentially founded with a $5.3 million grant from the Arnold Foundation in 2015 and since then has published a series of reviews of new prescription drugs that treat conditions ranging from high cholesterol to congestive heart failure. While companies have typically agreed to participate in the reviews, ICER has found in most cases that the drugs have been priced above what it has deemed a fair value range. Going forward, Pearson said, ICER will try to begin its reviews about 7½ months before the date the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is anticipated to rule on a drug candidate. The reviews would be made public around the time a company sets the price of a newly approved medicine and health insurers decide whether to cover it. While drug companies aren’t bound by the reviews, insurers and consumer groups are increasingly citing ICER’s “value frameworks” in negotiating how much they will pay. According to Pearson...
Source: Policy and Medicine - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs