The NHS and the pharmaceutical industry are often quick to criticise each other; the NHS for not funding a new therapy or only allowing use in a limited patient cohort; the pharmaceutical industry for ‘over’ pricing a new drug or ‘over selling’ its benefits.
There is an increasingly mature relationship between the pharmaceutical industry and the NHS and strong evidence of joint working to meet health service and industry goals whilst achieving that best possible outcome for patients.
We need to continue to foster open and honest dialogue at a product level to maintain momentum and accelerate change. Where does the pharmaceutical company believe the trade off between benefits received and price charged lies? Where do NHS stakeholders draw the line? We need to be open enough to accept that neither party truly understands the holistic value of the product in the real world practice.
Much of the value of pharmaceutical products to the NHS is not characterised and assessed in clinical trials. The use of real world evidence (RWE) and real world practice need to form part of the future narrative. RWE is increasingly becoming a part of medical and marketing plans, but more could and should be done to elaborate the wider value to the NHS at the outset.
Value for the patient, value for the company, value for the NHS – that’s what both the pharmaceutical industry and the NHS should be striving for. At i2i that’s our raison d’etre. If you’re interested in hearing more about how we have supported companies in developing effective strategies and delivering successful programmes why not give us a call on +44 1252 702850.