Challenge:
An emerging specialty pharma company facing an urgent partnering transaction deadline needed to assess the likely reimbursement and pricing of a new therapy in a crowded haematology market. It had competition from both inexpensive generics and selected premium products. Positioning the product to optimize pricing and volume posed material challenges. At the commodity end of the market, existing therapies were both generic and extremely cheap and were largely perceived as ‘good enough’ in most settings, despite documented side effects. The premium market position was occupied by a small number of injectable therapies aimed at specific subpopulations in the broad target indication. Alacrita was engaged to help determine the appropriate product positioning and pricing from a payer perspective.
Solution
Our strategic market access consultants conducted a series of payer interviews across the USA and EU3 (France, Germany and the UK). The aim of the project was to determine the feasibility of ‘pricing down’ from the high end rather than ‘pricing up’ from generics without the risk of constraining the potential product volume due to restricted market access in specific subgroups.
A core part of the analysis was to identify the supporting data that would align prescriber/clinical drivers with payer drivers. Starting with a clearly defined target product profile, our payer research consultants carried out research to understand the current recommended standard of care in the USA and EU3. We then formulated a list of questions and hypotheses summarising the issues facing the product and conducted a series of interviews with ‘real payers’ i.e. individuals experienced in formulary management or pricing and reimbursement decisions at local, regional or national levels. Payer value drivers, appropriate treatment comparators and approaches to pricing, relative to the premium market, were dissected and analysed to validate the expected pricing range for the product.
The interviews also identified requirements that would underpin the proposed premium pricing, which in turn provided useful input to launch the product and create strategic marketing plans.
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