Pharma/Payor Deals An Important Step In The Shift To Value-Based R&D

2011 was a break-out year for deals between pharmaceutical companies and payors, with three major drug makers – AstraZeneca PLC, Sanofi and Pfizer Inc. – inking broad alliances with the research departments of Anthem Inc., Medco Health Solutions Inc. (now itself a part of Express Scripts Holding Co.), and Humana Inc.(See Exhibit 1.) The alliances signal that even as drug makers reorient their R&D engines to be more flexible and externally focused in the hopes of shedding risk and cost, such moves are not enough. To survive in an increasingly cost-constrained health care environment, biopharma companies need to make a philosophical adjustment, putting greater energy into incorporating market access intelligence into their drug development programs. That means finding a mechanism to get closer to payors.

Over the past 15 years, “all pharmas have attempted to provide robust health outcomes data, but I am not sure...