OBJECTIVES: Successful uptake of any launched pharmaceutical product depends largely upon interactions between manufacturers and other stakeholders involved such as physician, patients, payers and healthcare or regulatory authorities. This study examined the views of Market Access Professionals in terms of barriers to ensuring effective uptake of pharmaceutical products by patients.

METHODS: A questionnaire was administered at International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR), Barcelona 2018. Participants were professionals with Market Access (MA), and Health Economic and Outcomes Research (HEOR) backgrounds. They were asked: (1) if there are barriers to ensuring effective uptake of pharmaceutical products by patients, and (2) what any such barriers were. Participants responded to the first question with Yes, No, or Not Sure; and participants chose from four options for the second question:- Negative Health Technology Assessment (HTA) guidelines, lack of clear incremental benefit relative to comparator, weak cost-effectiveness data to support product value relative to Standard of Care (SoC) and exclusion from formularies. Findings were presented in terms of descriptive statistics.

RESULTS: Three hundred and sixty seven professionals participated in the study with 306 (83%) stating Yes, 36 (10%) stating No and 25 (7%) answering Not Sure. The following perceived barriers were identified, in response to the second question, 214 (30%) lack of clear incremental benefit relative to comparator, 201 (28%) weak cost-effectiveness data to support product value relative to SoC, 163 (23%) HTA guidelines and 138 (19%) exclusion from formularies.

CONCLUSIONS: The study identified that MA professionals considered that there were barriers to ensuring effective uptake of pharmaceutical products by patients. The study also established lack of clear incremental benefit relative to comparator as the major perceived barrier to the uptake of pharmaceutical products. Therefore, strategies should be considered to overcome these perceived barriers, which may improve uptake of pharmaceutical products.