This is the second article in a three-part series examining the commercial dynamics surrounding combination therapy in oncology across the US and Europe. In this article, we investigate strategies that manufacturers could consider to optimize pricing and access opportunities for their combinations in today’s environment. You can find part one here.
In oncology, it has been the “status quo” for combination therapies to face challenges with respect to pricing and access. Present approaches for value assessment and pricing are designed for monotherapy agents and lack the capacity to capture the value and facilitate sustainable pricing of combinations. In particular, challenges arise when healthcare systems are unwilling to pay for incremental value for a combination compared to existing (often monotherapy) treatments and when the price of combination components cannot be dissociated from that of other indications.
Given the complexity associated with pricing combination therapies, manufacturers should identify potential challenges and pricing implications early in development and factor these into key decisions throughout the development process. In this article, we briefly look at some of the critical factors influencing pricing flexibility throughout development and offer insights on how to optimize global pricing strategy in the short and long term.
