Blog
The vicious circle of pharmaceutical tendering
- October 22, 2018
Pharmaceutical tendering and contracting has long been common in healthcare for medical devices and diagnostics; the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Jamaica Commodity Trading Company have been using pharmaceutical tendering since the 1970s. In the 1990s, international institutions such as the World Health Organisation and the World Bank endorsed tendering as the preferred procurement process […]
Beneluxa Initiative further strengthened as Ireland joins the collaboration
- August 22, 2018
On 22 June 2018, Ireland joined the Beneluxa Initiative on Pharmaceutical Policy. What has the initiative accomplished to date, and what will the addition of a fifth member mean for the future? Introduction to the Beneluxa Initiative The Beneluxa Initiative aims to improve patient access to innovative drugs in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Austria and now […]
Powering the healthcare system – when should infrastructure investment take priority over new drugs?
- August 15, 2018
Healthcare is under substantial economic strain: with estimates that healthcare spending in OECD countries could increase to 6% of GDP by 20501. Reimbursement decisions for high-cost drugs are often the subject of public and political debate while less media attention is given to the funding of the overall healthcare infrastructure. However, is it in patients’ […]
Scotland introduces a new pathway to improve access to ultra-orphan medicines
- July 9, 2018
Scotland is set to ease access to medicines for patients suffering from an ultra-rare condition. From the beginning of October this year, all medicines that target ultra-rare diseases (fewer than 1 case in 50,000 people) and that the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) decides are clinically effective will be reimbursed through NHS Scotland for a minimum […]
Patient-reported outcome measures: Choose with care
- March 27, 2018
Patient-reported outcome measures are increasingly important in the assessment of treatment regimes, both for regulatory approval and for market access. However, selecting the most appropriate measure and interpreting the data can be challenging.
Expert-led market access strategy
- March 19, 2018
In order to support effective decision making and deliver sustained returns in a complex, dynamic healthcare environment, pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies need an expert-led market access strategy that considers the changing nature of the real-life marketplace. These strategies should not only focus on achieving the commercial objectives for a product but also enable […]
Explaining the price of your product
- March 13, 2018
Many policy makers, physicians and patients complain about the prices of new pharmaceutical products. The pharmaceutical industry has recognised this perception, and though industry associations and individual companies have tried to explain why pharmaceutical companies need to charge the prices they do, this is failing.
Canada looks to reduce time between regulatory approval and reimbursement recommendations for prescription drugs
- March 12, 2018
An important change has been made to Canada’s Common Drug Review (CDR) program, which will be effective from the 2nd April 2018. It means that: CDR assessments can potentially proceed concurrently with Health Canada reviews. It should eliminate major delays between Health Canada’s approval and the final reimbursement recommendation. It further aligns the processes of […]
Breaking news! New changes to commissioning of specialist and rare disease services in England
- March 8, 2018
The Prescribed Specialised Services Advisory Group (PSSAG) is a Department of Health expert committee. It was established in 2013 to provide ongoing advice to MPs on whether specialised services should be nationally commissioned by NHS England, rather than locally by Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs).
Patients with rare disease to benefit as cross border capacity is built in European centres of excellence
- March 5, 2018
Approximately 30 million people live with rare diseases in Europe. In a drive to improve treatment for people with these complex conditions, a cross border cooperation via Directive 2011/24/EU “Patient’s rights in cross border healthcare,”1 has provided a framework for the development of European Reference Networks (ERNs).