Going Through the Motions

If the pharma industry got a dollar for every time it talked about improving relationships with payers, it probably wouldn ’t have a grave pricing challenge on its hands.Looking at it rationally, there is a clear win-win from greater harmony – pharma understands in advance the concerns of payers and can adjust its strategy to ensure effective market access, while payers get a heads-up on drugs are coming through and what impact they will have, and can plan budgets ahead.Yet, the reality is somewhat different. Collaboration – the word de jour for pharma in this decade – does not come easily, and many in the industry feel it is time that pharma got real with their relationships with payers. In these time of a crisis in the affordability of healthcare, only by working together is there any hope that patients will get the drugs they need, pharma will see return on its investment and healthcare systems will deliver effective health services.However much sense the argument makes, pharma literally cannot afford not to engage payers, says Ed Pezalla, former VP at Aetna, now CEO of consultancy firm Enlightenment Bioconsult. “There are two factors. Firstly, payers are increasingly able to block drugs or make them more difficult to access. You see more plans that don’t automatically pay for a drug when it first comes out, it doesn’t just get on the formulary.”The second factor is that payers are looking at the data more closely. “The FDA tends to give a broad label for...
Source: EyeForPharma - Category: Pharmaceuticals Authors: Source Type: news