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What to Watch in Second Round of Medicare Drug Price Negotiations

Established by the Inflation Reduction Act in August 2022, the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program is still in its infancy, but is expected to impact a wide swath of stakeholders in the U.S. healthcare system. Last year, CMS negotiated prices for the first round of drugs, and in January, the

How Copay Accumulators and Maximizers Affect Pharma PAPs

In a recent post on specialty carve-out mechanisms, we examined how payers’ use of specialty benefit managers and alternative funding programs can impact manufacturers’ patient assistance programs (PAPs). Today’s post takes a look at another managed care trend: the rise of copay accumulators and maximizers, also known as copay adjustment

Alzheimer’s Drugs Face Uncommon Market Access Challenges

Approximately 6.9 million Americans aged 65 and older have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). By 2060, prevalence could reach 13.8 million if no therapies are approved to prevent or cure AD. For decades, Alzheimer’s treatment focused on symptom management, with stagnant progress in experimental breakthroughs. That changed recently with

Payers Prepare for 2025 Medicare Part D Changes

As of 2024, more than 54 million Medicare beneficiaries had prescription drug coverage through Medicare Part D. Of that total, 31 million had Part D coverage alongside a Medicare Advantage plan, and about 23 million had a Part D prescription drug plan. As a result of the Inflation Reduction Act

Growing Interest in Direct-to-Consumer Drug Programs

The past few years saw the launch of several direct-to-consumer (DTC) programs, including Amazon One Medical and Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs. In 2024, several manufacturer-designed DTC programs, such as LillyDirect and PfizerForAll, have been added to the mix, demonstrating pharma’s continuing shift toward an integrated model of patient care.

Growth of Warranty-Based Contracts

As payers grapple with their ever-increasing spend on healthcare services, many are entering into various arrangements with pharma manufacturers to help mitigate their risk when paying for cell, gene and specialty therapies—which often have price tags ranging from several hundred thousand to millions of dollars. A warranty-based agreement is one

Evaluating Payer Impact on Utilization with Claims and Coverage Data

To fully understand how payers impact patient access, pharma companies should be evaluating payers using multiple datasets, including both coverage/restriction data and claims data. While payer policies indicate how payers plan to manage a product or service, medical and pharmacy claims reveal how payers actually manage that product in reality.

How Costs Impact Utilization for Hemophilia CGTs

When the FDA approved the first cell and gene therapy (CGT) for hemophilia almost two years ago, it represented a massive leap forward in treating the bleeding disorder. The one-and-done agents offer the promise of a cure, giving patients the prospect of freedom from the disease without regular treatments. Although

Acing Market Access: Six Steps to Take Before Launch

Our first post in this series discussed how early market access research, conducted in the 12-18 months before launch, helps pharma companies identify differentiators and establish accurate expectations. As your organization moves closer to launch, your market access team will need to establish a commercially focused definition for your patient

Key Benefits of Early Market Access Planning

According to our 2024 State of Patient Access survey, 81% of pharma companies are launching their market access planning much earlier than they did five years ago. By Phase I, one-third of pharma companies are already engaged in market access research, with most pharma companies (54%) engaged by Phase II