Oxford PharmaGenesis recently attended the 21st Annual International Meeting of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) held in Washington, DC (21–25 May 2016). There was a wide variety of stakeholders in market access and health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) from the pharmaceutical industry, government agencies and academia at the meeting, as well as more than 90 exhibitors representing research and communications consultancies.
Representing Oxford PharmaGenesis was Commercial Director Richard White, along with Executive Vice President Gordon Muir-Jones, and Value Demonstration Practice Consultants Karen Kurtyka and Jake Willet from the US office. The conference afforded a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with clients and former colleagues from industry, as well as meeting potential collaborators from research and data vendors.
Major themes
The main topic of this year’s meeting was ‘Value, affordability, and patient centeredness: can we have it all?’ Plenary sessions focused on how best to weigh various stakeholder needs for each of these areas of market access consideration. The first session addressed the delicate balance between accelerating the drug approval process and patient safety considerations, and featured presentations on the US Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (FDASIA), the Breakthrough Therapies Program and the unintended consequences of loosening approval standards.
The second plenary session, ‘Making medical decisions in an irrational world’, explored the behavioural economic framework underlying patient preferences. Presenters highlighted research showing how default settings and properly designed incentive programmes can nudge people towards healthier behaviours.
The third and final plenary session shifted the focus to health policy, with a discussion on regulatory and legislative issues in HEOR. Presentations covered the increasing stakeholder and policy-maker interest in real-world evidence in the USA, as well as impending updates to the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA), which are designed to increase the focus on patient needs during drug development.
Key issues in market access
An issue panel on the impact of the US-based Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) economic evaluations explored the increasing role of cost-effectiveness research in the US market. ICER is an independently funded organization (70% of funding comes from non-profit foundations, although some additional funding comes from manufacturers, government grants and health plan/provider groups) that evaluates selected new and innovative drugs, following FDA approval. The panel discussion centred on use of the ICER reports, as captured in a recent US payer survey. The majority of survey respondents reported having used the ICER reports in the past year, and 75% consider these reports as an evidence source for making P&T recommendations. The biggest concern among US payers was the timing of the availability of the report – the ICER analyses are not initiated until after FDA approval, whereas 85% of payers initiate their research before product approval. Overall, research conducted by ICER has had, and continues to have, a significant impact on cost evaluation in the US market.
ISPOR: a driving force in HEOR and market access
ISPOR continues to play a pivotal role in advancing the discourse surrounding HEOR and market access research, and we at Oxford PharmaGenesis are delighted to have had the opportunity to exhibit and take part in this important conference.
For further details on the research noted above, please visit: http://www.ispor.org/Event/ReleasedPresentations/2016Washington
