RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC--(Marketwire - May 14, 2009) - The recent agreements between
Merck and Cigna, as well as Sanofi-Aventis, Procter & Gamble and Health
Alliance, signify a major shift in the pharmaceutical industry's approach
to gathering and using health outcomes data, according to Cutting Edge
Information.
These agreements allow for more flexible, cost-effective drug pricing. In
the Merck deal, Cigna will price two diabetes drugs partially based on
whether health outcomes data show that patients can better control their
blood sugar levels. In the Sanofi-Aventis/Procter & Gamble-Health Alliance
deal, the drug makers agreed to reimburse health insurance companies for
patients who suffer a non-spinal bone fracture while taking their drug
Actonel.
These recent deals indicate that pharma companies are gathering and using
more health outcomes data to set pricing strategies. For years, drug
makers relied on contracting negotiations to gain a strategic reimbursement
advantage. Now they can no longer compete on contracting alone. Payers,
health insurance companies, and reimbursement plans call for drug
manufacturers to provide proof that their products will be cost-effective
compared to drugs already on the market.
Drug companies have known for years that outcomes-based pricing strategies
are inevitable. Developing those strategies and making them profitable has
been the challenge. Drug manufacturers have been reluctant, for example,
to initiate comparator studies that may prove that a competitor drug is
more cost effective or has more favorable outcomes.
"In today's environment, companies can no longer avoid collecting health
outcomes data," said Elio Evangelista, research manager at Cutting Edge
Information.
Cutting Edge Information's study "Outcomes-Based Pharmaceutical Pricing:
Meeting Stakeholder Needs" provides recommendations for improving pricing
strategies, implementing best practices and meeting payer needs. The
report shows companies how to incorporate outcomes data collection into
clinical development processes.
The report contains 400+ metrics, data focusing on pricing teams'
structures, phase-by-phase pricing processes and methodology, and spending
and staffing resources.
Metrics include:
-- Resource support, innovative versus me-too drugs
-- Cross-functional involvement in pricing decisions
-- Share of companies with dedicated pricing departments
-- Lifecycle entry and exit points for functions involved in the pricing
process
-- 2008 pricing budgets and headcounts, by company size
-- 2008 headcounts broken down by geographic market and by company size
Download a report brochure at
http://www.PharmaPricingStrategy.com.
Contact Information: CONTACT:
Elio Evangelista:
(919-433-0214)