Sector News

Money-back guarantees on cancer drugs are real in Italy

January 19, 2016
Life sciences

One country is ahead of the curve in striking pay-for-performance deals on cancer drugs–and, more importantly, collecting the cash when treatments don’t hit their goals.

That country is Italy, and its money-back guarantees on cancer drugs are sparking interest in the U.S. and elsewhere in Europe, Bloomberg reports. With more drugs fast-tracked through regulatory review, and many approved after preliminary data from small trials, Italy sees those money-back deals as a way to stay on the leading edge of treatment without breaking the bank on drugs that don’t work as promised.

The country’s medicines regulator had full-refund deals on more than 90 drugs by the end of 2014, up from less than 20 in 2012, Bloomberg says. Last year, it collected about 200 million euros ($220 million) under those money-back deals.

Italy also uses a strategy payers are studying in the U.S.: reimbursement and contracts that vary by cancer type. One drug might be fully refundable in one type of cancer and only partially rebated in another. The American Society of Clinical Oncology recently unveiled one framework for evaluating drugs cancer-by-cancer, and Express Scripts says it will experiment with the approach this year.

One difference in Italy is that the medicines agency there established national treatment registries in 2005 to track outcomes from various drugs. This system provides hard data for negotiating agreements and, with results continually coming in, a basis for renegotiating every couple of years. This sort of tracking is an important part of collecting refunds when and if they’re due.

As Bloomberg notes, Roche has been experimenting in France with tracking patient and treatment outcomes as a step toward more performance-based pricing. It’s not easy: The U.K., for one, has had trouble collecting on its few pay-for-performance reimbursement deals, according to a government report. And in the U.S., which lacks any kind of centralized health-records database, money-back deals could be even tougher. Amgen recently struck a pay-for-performance deal on its PCSK9 cholesterol drug Repatha, but it’s with Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, a small regional payer.

Both Roche CEO Severin Schwan and Novartis CEO Joe Jimenez have backed this sort of approach to reimbursement in recent months, and as the top two companies in oncology, their backing could be key to widespread adoption.

Novartis has pushed for performance-based deals on its heart failure drug Entresto–albeit not so successfully–and Jimenez recently told the French newspaper Le Temps that “money-back” pricing and other deals are “a way forward” through the pressure of rising drug prices. “The pharmaceutical industry will have to provide new approaches to pricing that will eliminate waste,” Jimenez said.

By Tracy Staton

Source: Fierce Pharma

comments closed

Related News

April 26, 2024

Former Bristol Myers CEO tapped as Novartis’ next board chair

Life sciences

Giovanni Caforio, the former CEO of Bristol Myers Squibb, is set to become the next board chairman of Novartis, which on Tuesday proposed the pharmaceutical industry veteran as its pick to replace Joerg Reinhardt in the role next year. Reinhardt has served as Novartis’ chair since 2013 and plans to retire when his 12-year term ends in 2025.

April 26, 2024

GE HealthCare launches voice-activated, AI-powered ultrasound machines for women’s health

Life sciences

GE HealthCare has raised the curtain on two ultrasound systems equipped with artificial intelligence programs designed to assist in diagnosing conditions in women’s health, including obstetric exams. The Voluson Signature 20 and 18 imaging systems include AI tools capable of automatically identifying and annotating measurements of fetal anatomy.

April 26, 2024

Scientists reveal new method that could reduce waste from drug manufacturing

Life sciences

Scientists from the University of Edinburgh’s School of Chemistry have revealed a new sustainable method of manufacturing complex molecules that could reduce waste produced during drug production. The method published in Nature Chemistry could help to prevent severe side effects caused by drugs that can exist as enantiomers.

How can we help you?

We're easy to reach