Pricing & Reimbursement

Roche debuts ‘responsibly priced’ Phesgo in India. Will the dramatic reduction in treatment time for women with HER2 positive breast cancer and other benefits, including insurance coverage, trigger sharp shifts towards the subcutaneous fixed-dose combination of Perjeta and Herceptin?

Group’s final report said evidence was inadequate to demonstrate a net health benefit versus symptomatic care for Lagevrio, a drug that has already taken a back seat to Pfizer’s Paxlovid.

Bristol already is training cardiologists at major treatment centers in how to treat obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with Camzyos (mavacamten) based on the REMS in the US label. 

While many of his peers elbowed each other to leap into oncology, James Xue decided to focus on rare diseases such as Hunter’s Syndrome. Now, 10 years after founding CANbridge, the CEO sat down for an audio interview with Scrip to offer his views on a flurry of key issues impacting orphan drug development in potentially the world's largest pharma market.

The COVID-19 windfall meant a 12% rise in spending on medicines in the US in 2021 versus 2020, but just 5% excluding COVID, which is expected to fall to 1%-4% compound annual growth through 2026.

AstraZeneca has presented more promising data from the PROVENT trial of its antibody combination therapy Evusheld which shows high levels of protection from COVID-19 for at least six months.

Draft evidence report from the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review estimates the potentially curative rare disease treatment could offset about $1.4m in health system costs over a lifetime.

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ final decision on Medicare coverage favors anti-amyloid antibodies approved for Alzheimer’s disease based on efficacy rather than biomarker data.

Organon commercial director and lead for the South Asia Region, Anjan Sen, lays out how the Merck spin-out expects to scale up activities in markets like India. A mix of new products, targeted repurposing efforts and access-driven pricing are part of the strategy that could potentially see the company double its presence in the region.

Addressing health care inequities, providing a nurturing environment for employees and learning from the pandemic were among the aims expressed by executives surveyed by Scrip.

Francis Bouchard, Region Head for AMACO (Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa Countries), Novartis Oncology, discusses a range of issues around mainstreaming personalized/precision oncology therapies such as Kymriah in the region, including reimbursement systems, partnerships and digital initiatives.

From BeiGene and Innovent to Zai Lab, companies have written down amounts equivalent to 44% of their combined product revenues in the fourth quarter of 2021 to compensate distributors after reimbursement prices for oncology drugs were slashed sharply by the government related to inclusion in a national reimbursement list.