US Payers Indicate Comparative Effectiveness Research Gaining in Importance

Industry Standard Research (ISR) announced the release of a new report focused on the impact comparative effectiveness research (CER) is and will have on formulary placement . “US Payers: Comparative Effectiveness Research and formulary decision-making” looks at how US payers view the importance and impact of various study/ data sources such as randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with placebo, RCTs with a comparator, health economics outcomes research, Quality of Life studies, short and long-term head-to-head studies, meta-analysis of data sets, and retrospective observational studies, among others.

“With this research we wanted to answer questions pertaining to how US payers currently and will in the near future make formulary decisions. This research looks at the impact various study types have on formulary decision-making overall and across seven major therapeutic areas: oncology, diabetes, mental health, asthma/ COPD, arthritis, heart disease, and hypertension.” explained Andrew Schafer, President of Industry Standard Research.

One interesting data point from the “US Payers: Comparative Effectiveness Research and formulary decision-making” report is that in the near future formulary decision-makers will be using data from many more sources to make their decisions. Respondents have many strong concerns about the data contained in randomized controlled trials with a placebo.

These reports provide pharmaceutical companies, contract research organizations, marketing, and consulting companies with information they can use to develop pre- and post-approval development and non-interventional studies that can be used to support formulary placement.

“Comparative effectiveness research is going to have an increasingly and major impact on US payer’s formulary decision-making over the next two years. Payers certainly want it and it can provide pharmaceutical companies with a road to product differentiation and reimbursement.”