ISSUE: Recent advancements in drug discovery have led to the development of innovative therapies that provide otherwise incomparable or unavailable therapeutic benefits in treating serious and life-threatening conditions. However, these drugs are very expensive. Harnessing drug innovation while controlling drug spending is one of the most challenging tasks in ensuring the sustainability of healthcare systems worldwide.

In response to growing concerns about healthcare spending, attention is turning to drug pricing as a means to manage healthcare expenditures. The use of cost-effectiveness analysis and other value-based frameworks have been proposed yet the price of new drugs continues to rise. This begs the question why existing approaches have not been effective in controlling drug prices and if there is an alternative. This will be the focus of debate for the issue panel.

OVERVIEW: Brittany Humphries will moderate the panel. She will provide the audience with a 10-minute overview of global drug spending and recently approved highly effective high-priced therapies. Each speaker will then have 10 minutes to present their perspective.

Dr. Michael Drummond will review the use of economic evaluations and value-based frameworks in drug pricing. He will discuss their strengths and limitations when applied to highly effective and high-priced therapies. Following this, Dr. Feng Xie will introduce alternative approaches (external reference pricing and outcomes-based pricing) to control drug prices. He will discuss their limitations and offer insights into what could be a promising approach to balance affordability and incentivise drug innovation. Finally, Dr. Nicola Magrini will present a case study of different high-priced medicines evaluated for listing in the World Health Organization Essential Medicine List that provides the basis for Universal Health Coverage programs.

At the end of the discussion, the audience will have 20-minutes to ask questions. Stakeholders who would benefit from attending include HEOR researchers, payers, manufacturers, and regulators.