Facet Attends the Market Access Society of America Symposium

Dr. Randy Goodman attended the May 21st Market Access Society of America Symposium.  This global conference brings together government and industry experts, researchers, and consultants with the goal of educating and shaping the future of market access.  From a broad perspective, the phrase “market access” (MA) was first used by the World Trade Organization (WTO) to characterize the competitive interaction between the nation’s domestic and imported commodities. The WTO first conceptualized MA as representing unlimited access to the whole market in any given country, where one can sell a product and make money. Further, the WTO defines market access according to goods (commodities) as “the conditions, tariff and non-tariff measures, agreed to by members for the entry of specific goods into their markets”. Subsequently, MA has been considered differently to reflect the peculiar characteristics of the contexts within which is being applied. MA in the healthcare sector has been primarily related to pharmaceuticals, making it distinct from “normal goods” as reflected by the WTO, which is primarily regulated through the interaction of supply and demand for goods and services. Even though there are many similarities between healthcare items and other goods in a free market economy, the healthcare market poses a challenge to the traditional economic paradigm, as the interplay of demand and supply is certainly not the same.

The challenges facing MA strategists in pharma include obtaining market access authorization, pricing and reimbursement levels, logistics (storage and supply circumstances), physician acceptance, drug surveillance (following up on potential and actual product adverse effects) and ensuring access to pharmaceutical products for patients. Within this industry, it has become increasingly necessary to satisfy the value perceptions of various stakeholders, particularly payers, to gain true MA for products as opposed to the traditional requirements of just persuading regulators of a product’s safety and efficacy. The argument being that there is a demanding need to understand the peculiarity of MA within the pharmaceutical market (including medical devices, vaccines).

Market Access can be (should be) used to ensure that the appropriate patients have better access to the right pharmaceutical products at the right time and the right price point. In order to produce evidence relating to “patients’ demands, safety, efficacy, effectiveness, budget impact, and cost efficiency of the technologies compared with existing treatment alternatives”, MA has emerged as a crucial element of the pharmaceutical industry. Manufacturers must overcome several external obstacles to ensure successful commercialization due to budget restraints, market considerations, patient demand, and increased reliance on payer technology/drug assessments.

The key takeaways from the meeting that define market access in the pharmaceutical industry were identified as: 1) right products, 2) right patients, 3) right price, 4) right point in time, and 5) right place (setting).  Many global pharmaceutical experts (including Facet) will make the argument that MA considerations and conceptualization must begin at the time of early-stage clinical study design to ensure that the process concludes with a product that meets economic, policy, societal, market and patient demands while at the same time, profitability for pharma manufacturers.  Dr. Randy Goodman, Facet’s Strategic Commercialization Consultant succinctly summarized what this means for small pharmaceutical and biotech developers, “In a nutshell, we need to be developing the right product for the right patients, delivered at the right point, at the right price in order to achieve the best possible outcome.”  

Let Facet help you develop your market access strategy to focus and streamline development as well as increase the value of your asset(s) for your organization and patients in need!