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Perspectives

Building an evidence-driven framework for greater access

Rethinking biopharma communication in 2020

In this increasingly constrained landscape, how do biopharma companies develop successful market access strategies? The Deloitte Center for Health Solutions surveyed health care executive decision-makers to understand how health care stakeholders approach coverage and placement decisions and how these are changing.

What strategies can biopharma companies develop to gain and improve market access?

US spending on prescription drugs has climbed from $783 per capita in 2007 to $1,025 per capita in 2017. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) project that such spending will continue climbing to $1,635 per capita by 2027, an increase of 60 percent.1 With rising drug prices there is more scrutiny on value. The growing costs of developing new drugs, increasing competition, and shortening times to peak sales make it imperative for biopharma companies to get their commercialization strategy right.

Prior Deloitte research shows that 36 percent of drugs launched between 2012 and 2017 missed their launch forecasts, over 50 percent of which were due to failures in achieving market access.3 At the same time, the increasing payer and provider system-wide focus on improving health outcomes per dollar spent is helping drive the need for a more holistic view of health care spending. 

In early 2020, the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions surveyed 80 health care decision makers including pharmacy and medical directors, chief medical officers, population health directors, and others involved in formulary design and access decision making. They were from health plans, health systems, PBMs, and integrated delivery networks. Our research highlights how trends in access decision making are likely to change in the next few years and its implications for pharma companies.

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Our research findings

Developing a robust market access strategy

Alignment on strategic choices requires a robust market access strategy development capability consisting of an end-to-end market access strategy framework. This framework should inform the strategic choices required to engage access stakeholders with differentiated and tailored value propositions supported by evidence obtained from answers to:

  • Where to play
  • How to win
  • How to execute

Learn more about a framework that helps biopharma companies achieve their market access objectives.

1 Why Are Prescription Drug Prices Rising And How Do They Affect The U.S. Fiscal Outlook?, Peter G. Peterson Foundation, November 2019, https://www.pgpf.org/blog/2019/11/why-are-prescription-drug-prices-rising-and-how-do-they-affect-the-us-fiscal-outlook, accessed April 15,2020
3 Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, Key factors to improve drug launches: Why drug launches miss market expectations and what to do about it, March 2020, https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/life-sciences/successful-drug-launch-strategy.html, accessed April 15, 2020

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