Presentation (CTI)

OBJECTIVES: Health economic and outcomes research (HEOR) frameworks are primarily designed for reimbursed healthcare systems in which payers adjudicate value through health technology assessment (HTA) processes. However, a growing number of prescription products operate in out-of-pocket (OOP) markets where patients directly determine willingness-to-pay and access. We developed and applied a cross-category analogue framework to support pricing and channel assessment for a novel, non-reimbursed prescription product across six Asia-Pacific (APAC) markets.
METHODS: The framework identified analogue products by decomposing the target product into pricing-relevant attributes, including reimbursement status, administration cadence, channel structure, and medical vs aesthetic positioning. Three analogues were selected accordingly. Data across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Philippines, and South Korea were extracted from publicly available clinic pricing, online pharmacy listings, hospital billing benchmarks, reimbursement sources, and secondary market reports. Prices were standardized to monthly self-pay equivalents in a common currency to enable cross-market and cross-channel comparison.
RESULTS: The framework generated directional self-pay pricing bounds and identified risks not observable through single-analogue benchmarking. Procedure-based analogues demonstrated greater exposure to bundling and promotional erosion, whereas recurring-use analogues highlighted the importance of monthly affordability and treatment persistence. Cross-channel price variation was greatest in fragmented private markets and narrower where a visible reference price existed. Healthcare provider economics and clinical credibility emerged as important determinants of channel adoption. Although formal price caps were uncommon, digital price transparency, grey-market sourcing, and international price differentials represented persistent leakage risks across most markets.
CONCLUSIONS: Cross-category analogue assessment may provide a structured, transferable approach for pricing and access evaluation in OOP prescription markets where payer centric HEOR frameworks have limited applicability. The framework enables rapid hypothesis generation using public-domain data and may help identify pricing erosion and channel risks early in commercialization planning. However, analogue assessment should complement, rather than replace, direct willingness to pay research.