Evidence on Valued Based Pricing and Reimbursement Schemes

At the PPRI conference in Vienna on 29-30 September, 2011, Jorge Mestre-Ferrandiz presented a poster summarising the results of a literature review on risk sharing, flexible pricing, patient access schemes and performance-based reimbursement.

Dr. Mestre-Ferrandiz

Despite the potential importance of value-based schemes for influencing the pricing, reimbursement and use of pharmaceuticals, the literature contains remarkably little hard evidence about their impact. At the PPRI conference in Vienna on 29-30 September, 2011, Jorge Mestre-Ferrandiz presented a poster summarising the results of a literature review on risk sharing, flexible pricing, patient access schemes and performance-based reimbursement.

A PubMed search for the period January 2008-April 2011 found no cost benefit analyses that evaluated the overall economic impact of any of the schemes in monetary terms.  Instead, the review found that most publications discussed value in qualitative terms, with viewpoints differing by stakeholder.  No consensus on the impact of the schemes, or their social desirability, was evident.

The analysis suggest that although research to date provides important insights, further objective research is important to informing the UK’s efforts to institute a value-based pricing approach for pharmaceuticals.  In particular, a better understanding is needed about whether and how transaction costs may affect the implementation of the schemes.

Download Puig-Pieró, R., Merstre-Ferrandiz, J., Sussex, J. and Towse, A. (2011) Literature review on Patient Access Schemes, Flexible Pricing Schemes and risk sharing agreements for medicines. Poster presented PPRI Conference 2011. Vienna. 29-30 September.

Related OHE research: Operationalising Value Based Pricing, an OHE Research Paper. See also the posts on value-based pricing in this blog.