Top Pharma Trends Set to Influence Market Access in Europe
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By now, most everyone is tired of talking about the global coronavirus pandemic. However, it has caused a significant impact on European healthcare budgets while shifting the attention and resources toward COVID-19 research. The soaring drug spending and increased desire for expense control are a constant theme across the US, Europe, and other emerging markets. As the industry faces immense pressure from governments and societies to reduce drug costs, pharma companies are also investing in marketing analysis consulting and regulatory strategy consultant advisory to strike a balance with pricing that sustains and supports their R&D.
There is no doubt that government expenditures have been exuberantly high on COVID-related measures. To support this fact with evidential data, the German government approved a budget of 3.5 billion euros with a hike of 20 percent for its health ministry during March 2020.
On the one hand, governments worldwide and private healthcare systems are under vigorous pressure to fund high-cost, innovative medical procedures and therapies launching with limited clinical trials; payers are now seeking different and better reimbursement processes that can align drug funding with patient value.
With budgetary pressures in the backdrop, the subject matter experts (SME’s) at the CA based boutique management consulting firm, The Deerborne Group, share the top-4 trends that they believe will redefine the European market access and reimbursement landscape in the coming years.
Increase Cross-border Collaboration
Payers in certain countries see cross-border collaboration as an effective way of cost control. Apart from promoting harmony of Health technology Assessments (HTA’s), it also improves knowledge sharing and group negotiations. Smaller countries banding together for more significant results see success and are likely to become more established in the long run. Collaborations benefit biopharma companies through streamlining consultation, negotiation procedures, and submissions.
Promoting Payments by Outcomes
Payment by outcomes is one method that is widely being adopted in the EU market even now. Under this, the entire or part of the payment depends on a product’s performance on achieving claims and specific outcomes. Based on the collection and analysis of real-life health outcomes and effectiveness statistics, it brings, more or less, fair trade to the market. However, the challenge is the lack of adequate resources and manpower to monitor such arrangements.
Boosting Application of Patient- Access Schemes
There has been a consistent rise in patient access schemes (PAS), aka risk-sharing agreements, in the EU and UK. PAS also includes finance-based ones that offer opportunities to manufacturers to have early interaction with the payers to inform commercialization strategy and evidence generation. This also helps payers understand the actual utility of a pharma product better in real-world settings.
REFORM NATIONAL REIMBURSEMENT AND PRICING SCHEME
Certain EU countries already planning to reform their national policies on reimbursement and drug pricing will lead to faster reimbursement and access of innovative products, fasten procedures and approvals, and enhance openness to risk-management contracts. In the long sight, it will develop a payer-friendly proposition while boosting clarity on value propositions and price expectations.
These trends are likely to transform the EU pharmaceutical market space. A deeper understanding with a sharper and updated insight can give pharma companies the necessary competitive edge while effectively managing the price-value conundrum.
About The Deerborne Group:
The Deerborne Group is a boutique management consulting firm that focuses exclusively on the global biotechnology, in-vitro diagnostics, and life sciences industries. Their primary focus is advising corporations, venture capital, and private equity firms on commercial, operations, and corporate strategy. They help clients identify opportunities, minimize risks, and how best to navigate some of their most difficult management challenges.
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