What are the key challenges facing companies today?
OBJECTIVES
Optimising market access is increasingly important during drug launches, with growing healthcare expenditure meaning payers are more stringent regarding the evidence needed to achieve reimbursement at a high price. This study aims to understand the industry perspective on drivers and challenges for a successful launch from a pricing and market access (PMA) perspective, and the areas that can be improved in future.
METHODS
15 executives from top pharmaceutical companies completed an online survey, covering the following key topics:
- Whether recent PMA launches had met expectations
- The main internal company and payer / health technology assessment (HTA) challenges faced
- Factors that would improve future PMA launches
The sample comprised a mix of personnel across PMA teams and Commercial teams.
RESULTS
81% of the sample had launched either an innovative biologic or small molecule in the previous 5 years, with 38% considering their launches “very successful”. A greater proportion of respondents (77%) encountered at least one significant external payer / HTA challenge during these launches than an internal company challenge (23%). The most common internal challenge was unrealistic management / shareholder expectations, which 38% of respondents described as a significant / highly significant challenge. The most common payer / HTA challenge was differing price expectations between the manufacturer and payer / HTA body, which 54% of respondents described as a significant / highly significant challenge. 85% of respondents stated that greater PMA input into clinical development would improve future launches.
CONCLUSIONS
PMA teams face fewer internal launch challenges, but difficulties remain during payer negotiations due to insufficient clinical data. There is a need to better integrate PMA input early in the clinical development process to make the necessary evidence available at launch, and effectively manage senior leadership expectations around price potential and the associated evidence requirements, particularly in EU markets.