What Pharma Needs From RWD: Top 5 Trends
The explosion of real-world data (RWD) now available to pharma companies can be overwhelming. While many larger manufacturers with their own teams of data analysts have been using RWD for years, smaller manufacturers are just beginning to incorporate RWD into their clinical development and market access strategies. Which data sets
Using Real-World Data to Improve Patient Access to Oncology Therapies
Many oncology manufacturers assume that a therapy’s inclusion on clinical pathways is more important than its coverage profile, but this isn’t always true. Across every oncology class, manufacturers need to know which organizations—IDNs, provider organizations, payers or PBMs—have the biggest positive and/or negative influence on their products’ utilization. Patient access
How Are Payers Responding to ADHD and Chemo Drug Shortages?
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, drug shortages, caused by increased demand, supply chain difficulties, and supplier issues have plagued payers and patients alike, making it harder for patients to access the therapies they need and causing delays in treatment. Drug shortages hit a record five-year high in 2022,
How Much Does Medication Compliance Affect Site-of-Care Optimization?
In an effort to lower the cost of specialty drugs, many payers have initiated site-of-care optimization strategies. By encouraging patients to receive therapies in more cost-effective settings — such as physician offices, infusion clinics, or at home — payers can reduce unnecessary expenses while ensuring members receive clinically appropriate care.
10 Questions Oncology Manufacturers Should Be Asking About the Stark Law
Even though we knew it was coming, the end of the COVID public health emergency (PHE) on May 11, 2023, still took the healthcare industry by surprise. While the end of the PHE resulted in the rollback of many COVID-19 programs, it also changed the ways that Medicare patients can
The Problem with Copay Adjustment and Alternate Funding Programs
Payers’ use of copay adjustment programs has exploded over the past few years, and interest in them remains high. In addition, payers are now looking to bring down their drug spend by adopting newer strategies offered by companies with alternate funding programs. While many manufacturers are pushing back against these
Accelerated Approval in Oncology: Why Manufacturers Need to Prove Their Worth in Timely Fashion
The FDA has created a number of pathways to bring drugs for serious conditions onto the market sooner than the traditional approval process would allow. These include priority review, accelerated approval, fast track and breakthrough therapy designations, as well as emergency use authorizations, which are used in emergency situations, such
Payers and PBMs Are Excluding Cancer Drugs at a Growing Rate. How Can Manufacturers Prepare?
With rebates now a common pharma practice, and generics and biosimilars launching in oncology, payer management of once-untouchable cancer drugs is growing. As the FDA continues to approve a large number of cancer drugs, resulting in increased competition in various tumor types, and spending on these agents continues to rise,
Are Clinical Pathways Expanding Beyond Oncology?
In oncology, clinical pathways—recommendations of specific treatments for a specified group of patients—have long been used to help control costs and treatment variation while improving outcomes. Clinical pathways may be payer-driven or provider-driven based on the organization that develops and controls the pathways, and financial incentives and policing mechanisms encourage
Why Oncology Manufacturers Need a Clinical Pathway Strategy
As a society, we have made great strides in improving cancer care and outcomes in recent years. There are now more treatment options across more tumor types than ever before. There are targeted therapies designed for specific genetic mutations, which carry fewer side effects than traditional chemotherapy and lead to