Pricing combination products: not how but who?

Area of Science:

• Health Economics
• Pharmaceutical Policy
• Value-Based Healthcare

Background:

• Identifying solutions for attributing value in component combinations has progressed, but implementation mechanisms remain a challenge.
• Current strategies by health technology assessment (HTA) and pricing/reimbursement authorities include inaction, arbitrary measures like price haircuts, or deferring responsibility to industry and competition authorities.

Discussion:

• The
• mechanism problem
• in combination therapy value attribution requires active involvement from HTA and reimbursement bodies to establish clear attribution rules.
• Existing approaches fail to incentivize add-on therapy development due to high implementation costs, imbalanced bargaining power favoring backbone owners, and the need for multi-indication pricing approval.

Key Insights:

• Effective value attribution for combination therapies necessitates a shift from current passive or arbitrary strategies.
• HTA and reimbursement bodies must proactively engage in defining attribution methods to foster innovation in add-on treatments.
• Addressing the pricing of backbone therapies in combination use versus monotherapy is critical for fair value distribution.

Outlook:

• Future strategies should focus on collaborative rule-setting between regulatory bodies and industry.
• Developing robust frameworks for multi-indication pricing will be essential for equitable reimbursement of combination therapies.
• Proactive HTA and reimbursement body involvement is key to resolving the combination therapy value attribution challenge and promoting therapeutic advancements.