PwC Report: Collaboration Allows Drugmakers to Maximize Value

Increasing data is driving collaboration among drugmakers, insurers, health systems and technology firms to deliver cost-effective and improved treatments to patients, a just-released PwC report concludes.

New payment incentives are pushing healthcare providers to collaborate with drugmakers to measure the effectiveness of drugs. This results in patients receiving prescriptions that reflect cost-benefit analyses, 21st Century Pharmaceutical Collaboration: The Value Convergence shows.

The report, by PwC’s Health Research Institute, points to emerging real-world evidence studies such as one comparing AstraZeneca’s Symbicort with Boehringer Ingelheim’s Spiriva in COPD patients, which impressed purchasers, according to a company that advises biopharmaceutical organizations. AZ teamed with HealthCore, the health outcomes research subsidiary of WellPoint, to conduct the study.

The report also cites a large, unnamed drugmaker that “improved formulary access to its type 2 diabetes drugs by maintaining an outcomes registry of patients using those products.”

Meanwhile, government agencies and lawmakers are increasingly committed to such collaborations, demonstrated by the proposed 21st Century Cures Act.

The report also makes a pitch for addressing current compliance and legal obstacles to access and data sharing.

“An ongoing assessment of FDA’s thinking, in light of pending legislation, lawsuits and government rulemaking, can turn the compliance department into a strategic partner for marketing and promotion, while controlling risks,” the report says. — Jonathon Shacat