by Richard Staines

AMSTERDAM, Nov 12 (APM) - Healthcare systems must begin planning to cope with a new wave of medicines as scientific developments such as the human genome programme have enriched the late stage pipelines of many companies, expert have been told.

The International Society of Pharmacoeconomics and Research (ISPOR) conference in Amsterdam heard that unlike in the years of the “patent cliff”, when pipelines were nearly empty and cost-effective new drugs were scarce, health systems may have tough choices about which treatments are prioritised in budgets.

Richard Bergstrom, chief executive of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) noted in a plenary session on Tuesday there had been many discussions the high cost of Gilead’s Sovaldi (sofosbuvir), which can effectively cure hepatitis C.

But he said other premium-priced drugs are coming to market that could put even more pressure on budgets.

He argued that health systems must start taking action to ensure they are able to pay for this new wave of mainly biological medicines made possible by increasing scientific knowledge about the genetic causes of disease.

He told the conference: “The good news is that countries are finding there is so much coming through ... it creates a planning problem. The pipelines are full and the patients are waiting.

“We have a lot of targeted medicines and a lot of stratified medicines as a result of the genomic revolution - it is not a result of a business strategy.”

Bergstrom referred to a report by Evaluate Pharma, published last month, showing the most valuable projects in pharma to illustrate the kind of products that are in final stages of development. Top of the list was Vertex' Kalydeco (ivacaftor)+lumacaftor in cystic fibrosis, valued at almost $14 billion.

Concerns over Sovaldi in U.S.

 
Josh Carlson , assistant professor at the University of Washington, in a smaller group session noted the ongoing controversy over the price of Sovaldi in the U.S., where directors of Medicaid associations have called for the government to begin limiting its price on the government-funded programme.
 
Proposals in a letter to congress included direct price controls, better federal funding and reference pricing, he said.

He referred to well-publicised estimates that treating all U.S. hepatitis C at the around $100,000 per patient cost of Sovaldi, would cost the health system $200 billion. Carlson said: "Costs of new treatments for common diseases could cause big issues."

rs/ns