What effect will Avastin's fate have on healthcare?

The Daily Telegraph in the UK has the latest on the vote from the FDA Advisory Panel to drop Avastin as an endorsed treatment for breast cancer patients. The drug prevented blood flow to the tumors, extending the amount of time before the disease worsened. However, now that the FDA Advisory Panel has dropped their endorsement because the drug may only extend lives by a month, possibly even less, US Insurers could possibly stop covering the drug in their health plans. They cited "cost effectiveness" was the reason their endorsement was dropped.

What are the long term effects this will have on healthcare coverage in the United States? What kind of implications could "Cost Effectiveness" have on future drugs and their coverage on healthcare plans?

Pharma and Health Plan executives debate criteria for formulary placement and reimbursement

IIR’s 2nd Annual Value-Driven Pharma event is the only conference that delivers the tools and the know how pharmaceutical executives need to meet payers increasingly strict criteria for coverage and reimbursement. No other managed market event offers wider accents to industry experts and solutions.

Obtain the tools to deliver solid economic health data applicable to real-world needs and decisions faced by patients, clinicians, and payers necessary to obtain formulary placement.

Respond to the shifting payer mix and optimize your formulary and reimbursement strategy to ensure you reap the benefits of increased prescription volumes.

This is the last week to save, so register now for Value-Driven Pharma to navigate the changing reimbursement paradigm to ensure your product’s value is undisputable.

We know that budgets are tight and it can be difficult to get time away from the office – however, we continue to hear from the industry that it is more important than ever to gain insights from industry thought leaders speaking at Value- Driven Pharma.
To learn more about this year’s agenda and impressive speaker line-up, download the brochure or visit our website. We are confident that once you do, you and your team will discover that Value-Driven Pharma is a can’t-miss event for 2010.

White Paper: Pharmaceutical Marketing in Perspective Its Value and Role as One of Many Factors Informing Prescribing

I recently came across the white paper Pharmaceutical Marketing in Perspective: Its Value and Role as One of Many Factors Informing Prescribing. Phrma provides a white paper htrat look at how Pharma companies need to provide information about their drugs to healthcare professionals and insurance companies. Direct communication between the two is important because it allows those who are prescribing the medications have the most up to date information on the drugs that are available to their patients. Read the full white paper here.

Value Driven Pharma - 2010 Brochure Ready for Download

IIR’s 2nd Annual Value-Driven Pharma is not just another managed market event – it delves deeper than ever before to give you the tools to reconcile government, payer and patient perspectives on drug valuation to bring you closer to the patients you serve.
Explore risk-sharing contracts like CIGNA & Merck and Health Alliance & P&G, to evaluate the demand for more outcomes data from payers and the requirements around Comparative Effectiveness Research to pave the way for formulary placement from the earliest point possible in the development cycle.

Download the brochure to find out more about the speakers and presentations at this year's event:

Key Takeaways for 2010:
• Benefit from over 20 hours of face-to-face working groups, networking breaks, and roundtable luncheons.
• Tackle challenges that come with payers increased focus on innovation that supports better health and financial outcomes for patients
• Improve the relationship and communication between manufacturers and payers to align all the incentives behind improving patient value.
• Learn how to break free from organizational silos, to leverage CER data to craft a successful value proposition, and use risk-sharing contracting to ensure market access.

Drug Pricing Based on Patient Outcomes

According to this post in FierceHealthcare pharma companies have started adjusting pricing on their drugs to reflect its performance on improving patient outcomes. Merck has agreed to adjust pricing on Januvia and Janumet, which are diabetes drugs, based on how well they treat type 2 diabetes.

Performance-based pricing for meds is extremely rare, but with increased pressure coming from insurance companies it is only a matter of time before we will see more and more pharma companies following this pattern.

Read more about this piece on the NY Times