Oncology Unmet Medical Need Forum
6th August 2012 — 7th August 2012

Payer and public health investment priorities to stimulate th edevelopment of value-adding anti-cancer medicines

It is now widely known that healthcare systems around the world are already under significant budgetary pressure, with the prognosis for the future looking far from positive. Ageing populations, are one major cause of cost-pressure, and incidences of cancer have risen greatly over the years. Oncology medications are amongst the most expensive specialty drugs available. End of life medications in certain indications often only provide a few months of extra life, at huge costs, whilst other more effective treatments extend life by several years, further adding to pharmacy bills. However, anti-cancer medicines that can dramatically improve quality of life can help to keep patients out of expensive hospital care and often back into the workforce as productive members of society. This investment needs to be more targeted at least to the areas that payers define as “unmet need” and of “high value”, for such reimbursement risks to be worthwhile taking. Considerable progress has been made to manage risk, with payers increasingly “scanning horizons” to find out what drugs and devices will affect their budgets in the coming years, and implementing pay-for-performance reimbursement models. To improve innovation, drug developers have paid much more attention to receiving scientific advice from payers earlier in the clinical trials process and implementing payer-focused endpoints into clinical trials. Furthermore, increased emphasis has been placed on comparative effectiveness research to demonstrate the relative effectiveness of drug and intensive real-world evidence collection.

Despite these efforts, too many “me too” cancer drugs, for example, have been entering the marketplace, with uncertain or questionable benefit over existing therapies, yet pharmaceutical companies still request high-prices to recoup their considerable R&D investments. Drug developers take extreme risks in bringing new drugs to the market , spending over a billion dollars per therapy and investing over 10 years on average in R&D time and still face very high failure rates. This investment needs to be more targeted at least to the areas that payers define as unmet need and of high value for such extreme risks to be worthwhile taking. There is also confusion with regards to the definition of “innovation” and how much payers are willing to invest in “innovations”. Novel classes of small and large molecules with exciting mechanisms of action may only have slight therapeutic benefits over existing drugs, whilst “incremental innovations” of older drugs could alternatively also improve outcomes at significantly less cost.

Why this Event?

This will be a very unique conference that will allow public and private payers (i.e. health plans, Medicare, Medicaid, PBMs, HTA agencies, policy makers in the USA and internationally) and oncology healthcare providers to come together to present and discuss their views regarding their current and future unmet needs in oncology indications . This discussion will help bring fresh insight & discussion amongst key stakeholders to prevent the wasted development of “me-too” drugs in the coming years, and to encourage investment into therapies for indications that achieve budget-effective medical "innovation" and improve patient access to high-value medications. The event will also look at what the biopharma industry needs to do to integrate payer unmet needs into cancer R&D pipelines and generate clearer evidence of added-value, by hitting payer-focused endpoints and to develop advanced medications that improve real health outcomes.

Why Attend?

• Understand what global payers define as “unmet need” and drug “value” for anti-cancer medications
• Realise what is meant by “innovation” in oncology and how much this should be rewarded
• Learn how health technology assessments are made in oncology and what evidence is required
• Discover how comparative effectiveness research in cancer has been working in real-life
• Appreciate what steps drug developers are making to integrate payer-focused endpoints into clinical trials and enhancing real-world evidence generation
• Determine how the pharma & biotech industry are reengineering R&D portfolios to satisfy payers needs for budget-effective anti-cancer therapies

Who Will Benefit?

PAYERS & POLICY MAKERS: Senior representatives from public & private payers, health plans & insurers, PBMs, public health experts, health technology assessors, hospital financial management, government & health ministry officials, healthcare providers and managed care organizations, cancer hospitals, epidemiology, horizon scanning, scientific advice, pharmacy strategy & budget management.

INDUSTRY: Corporate senior management, vice presidents, directors, senior managers involved in oncology: strategic marketing & portfolio strategy & management, business analysis, corporate & business development, corporate strategy health economics, outcomes & market access, pricing & reimbursement, epidemiology, health & public policy, government & stakeholder relations, medical affairs & advisory, scientific affairs R&D & pipeline strategy, new product development.

OTHER STAKEHOLDERS: Regulatory agencies, key-opinion-leaders, independent health economists, health researchers and academics, physicians, patient groups, consultants and other solution providers

Your Prestigious Speaker Panel

US Payers & Health Technology Assessors

National Medical Director for Pharmacy Policy & Strategy
Aetna

Chief of Staff to the Chief Medical Officer
Aetna

Executive Director, Technology Evaluation Center,
BlueCross BlueShield Association

Vice President, Information Services and Health Technology Assessment,
ECRI Institute
Senior Advisor, Healthcare Horizon Scanning System,  AHRQ

Research Director
Center for Medical Technology Policy

Director, Clinical Services, Strategy and Policy FLRx Pharmacy Management, Excellus BlueCross BuleShield

Non-US Payers & Health Technology Assessors

Director, Coordinating Secretariat
EUnetHTA
Chairman of the
EUnetHTA Executive Committee

Internal Expert in Medicine,
National Institute for Health & Disability Insurance (INAMI-RIZIV), Belgium
Member of Task Force on Managed Entry Agreements,
European Commission

Co-Chairman,
Pan-Canadian Oncology Drug Review (PCODR)

Pharmacy Benefit Managers

Director, Extramural Development,
Express Scripts

VP Strategy & Contracting Pharma/Biotech
Express Scripts

Pharmaceutical & Biomarker Industry

Senior Vice President, Oncology Therapeutics
Gilead Sciences Inc.

Head, Market Access
Sanofi Oncology

Global Evidence & Value Development (EVD), Medical Affairs, Global R&D
Sanofi

Director of Business Development
Myriad RBM Inc.

Senior Scientific Advisor
Optimer Pharmaceuticals

Leading Academics

Associate Director, Center of Drugs & Public Policy
University of Maryland School of Pharmacy
Senior Fellow, Center for Medical Technology Policy Co-Editor-in-Chief, Value in Health

Associate Director
Tufts Center for The Study of Drug Development

Expected Number of Attendees

NA

View Conference Website: Oncology Unmet Medical Need Forum

Price of Attendance

n/a

Brochure

View Event Brochure

Location

Philadelphia
Philadelphia
Philadelphia
United States
Philadelphia