Adaptive Pathways and Patient Access

An issue panel entitled Adaptive Pathways and Patient Access: Pushing Payer Boundaries or Facilitating New Payment Models? was held and moderated by Jacoline Bouvy, Scientific Adviser, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), London, UK. Jacoline Bouvy provided an overview of ADAPT SMART, the enabling platform for the coordination of Medicines Adaptive Pathways for Patients (MAPPs) activities. MAPPS seeks to foster access to beneficial treatments for the right patient groups at the earliest appropriate time in the product lifespan in a sustainable fashion. Learn more about ADAPT SMART http://adaptsmart.eu/.

Biosimilars and Estimated Savings

According to Michael Drummond, Professor of Health Economics, University of York, who led a workshop on biosimilars: Biosimilars can really bring improvements to patient outcomes by providing more treatment options to physicians and reducing the need for rationing.

A review of the G-5 biosimilars pricing & reimbursement policies and estimated savings is avalaible here.

Rare Diseases and Off-label Drugs

Pilar Pinilla-Dominguez, Technical Adviser, NICE Scientific Advice, London, UK participated in an Issue Panel titled : Is Off-label Drug Use Enhancing or Limiting Access for Patients with Rare Diseases? The biggest issues in the current system when it comes to off-label treatments for rare disease patients include: Lack of (high quality) evidence; Limited scientific understanding or consensus on specific clinical endpoints; Variation in clinical practice across EU; Difficulty in conducting comparisons; and Side effects. In order to improve the current system, the panelists agreed that additional measures were needed: the formal recognition of off-label use and the development of reimbursement rules for off-label prescriptions, as well as a greater acceptance of real-world data and the development of mechanisms for recording and systematically reviewing off-label use.