2. Achieving access: addressing the needs of payors and health technology assessment agencies
Abstract In the current economic climate, payors are demanding more evidence of real-life effectiveness before funding
drugs. Standards of evidence needed to satisfy payors may exceed regulatory standards, which in turn may vary between
markets. The resulting divergence between payors, regulatory bodies, and the healthcare industry can cause uncertainty
around the launch of new technologies and reduce the availability of potentially life-saving medicines. Randomized
controlled trials (RCTs) remain the gold standard when investigating the safety and efficacy of a new intervention.
However, real-life data are increasingly required by payors and regulatory agencies facing both straitened budgets and an
abundance of new therapies competing for the same space in the market. This particularly applies to non-vitamin K
antagonist oral anticoagulants—namely, the direct factor Xa inhibitors apixaban and rivaroxaban, and the direct oral
thrombin inhibitor dabigatran. Despite the array of data available from RCTs, there are some areas of uncertainty around
real-life use of these agents. The extent to which these drugs will be funded by payors or approved for use by regulatory
agencies may therefore be centred on real-life data. This article will discuss ways in which the healthcare industry,
regulatory approval bodies, payors, and patients must collaborate to find adequate solutions for generating robust
evidence for the use of new interventions. We will also consider the challenges and possible solutions that may allow the
healthcare industry to ensure divergent needs of stakeholders are met, to achieve a balance of clinical effectiveness and
value for all. KEYWORDS : Coverage; Reimbursement; Market access; Payors; Health technology assessment; Real-life
data
Conclusions The healthcare industry and pharmaceutical companies in particular need to satisfy the somewhat divergent
needs of both licensing authorities and payors, in an era where there is an abundance of new medicines and increasing
demands on justifying their effectiveness. To gain market access, most drugs will need to obtain a positive
reimbursement or coverage decision from payors in addition to satisfying requirements for licensing agencies. Real-life
data are essential for sound coverage and reimbursement decisions. Ultimately, manufacturers must be prepared to
provide a range of evidence that can fulfil both licensing and reimbursement authority needs, whether the focus is
efficacy studies with high internal validity, effectiveness studies with high external validity, or a combination of the two.
The expertise of key stakeholders should be pooled in order to generate the most valuable real-life data. In the UK, NICE
has begun a collaboration with other academic bodies and pharmaceutical companies as part of the GET REAL project,