Competition from drugs in the same class (with the same mechanism of action and treating the same disease) presents a clear challenge to a first-in-class market entrant. And the speed with which these competitors arrive impacts market dynamics, commercial strategies, and, increasingly, drug prices. Therapies that enjoy extended monopolies as sole entrants in a particular class have greater commercial flexibility in negotiating with payers. Multiple drugs in the same class give payers better leverage with which to negotiate rebates and discounts with drug companies.
Follow-on biologics have been embraced enthusiastically in most emerging markets, where they promise to deliver much-needed improvements in access to a generation of products that remains beyond the reach of many patients.
Orphan drugs account for a growing portion of payers’ budgets – and comprise some of the most expensive treatments available.
This analysis covers the four major emerging regions of the Middle East and Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Within these regions, relatively wealthier markets with a proven marketplace for orphan medicines have been prioritized.
Faced with pressure from stakeholders – particularly patients – governments, regulators, and some countries have introduced new options and/or processes to speed up access to medicines. This includes access before marketing authorization, and speeding up the marketing authorization, or less often, the health technology assessment processes.
A new value-based assessment (VBA) process is scheduled to come into effect in the UK in late 2014. There have been significant delays in determining how this would work in practice, reflecting VBA’s complexity.
Ovarian cancer medicines have traditionally been subject to low restrictions, as most patients usually start and remain on inexpensive platinum-based therapies. However, beginning with the launch of vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitor Avastin, followed by poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor Lynparza, payers are seeing an uptick in spend for the indication.
A combination of the high cost of novel oral anticoagulants (NOACs) (relative to highly genericized vitamin K antagonists) and the large patient populations these drugs address, has resulted in this class of compounds being a top priority for European payers.
France spent more of its gross domestic product (GDP) on healthcare in 2010 than the average of other key developed markets.
Real-world evidence (RWE) has become increasingly important in proving the value of drugs and differentiating them from their competition.
With a growing economy and 40 million inhabitants, Argentina is one of the most important emerging market destinations in South America.
Over the last two decades, clinical care of hemophilia has improved significantly, extending the life expectancy for this patient population closer to that of the general population. The emergence of virally inactivated plasma-derived clotting factors and then of recombinant clotting factor replacement therapy in the 1980s has revolutionized care for these patients.
China has recently completed its 2009–11 healthcare reform. The reform has come at a high cost: although the Ministry of Health intended to invest CNY850bn ($135bn) in the plan, total investment has now exceeded CNY1,100bn ($175bn).
As a supplement to our well-known quarterly Outlook report, Biomedtracker is pleased to present a longer-term look at some key late-stage drugs projected to hit the market in 2020.
The average drug price in Poland is the lowest in the EU, mainly due to the high proportion of generic pharmaceuticals, low availability of innovative drugs, and high price pressure on reimbursed drugs.
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