PHP74 Considerable Potential Savings from Change in Distribution Channel for Serious Diseases Products in Greece: The Case of OGA Social Security Fund (SSF)

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:The British government has decided to impose a system of value based pricing (VBP) in England as part of a wide-ranging national health care system (NHS) reform. The outcomes from this decision will have a number of consequences for the NHS and the pharmaceutical industry alike. The objective of this poster is to evaluate the impact of VBP implementation on the NHS and pharmaceutical industry specifically with regards to drug access, health care drug expenditure and promoting innovation. METHODS: A literature review was conducted in order to understand health economists' evaluations about VBP and stakeholders' reaction to proposed reform. Ten stakeholders from academia, the pharmaceutical industry and representative members of the NHS, were involved in qualitative interviews to compare and contrast the views of health care workers, NICE and the pharmaceutical industry about NHS reform and concept of value as it pertains to VBP. RESULTS: VBP as expected has been quite a contentious and controversial issue for the pharmaceutical industry with regards the proposed NHS reform. NICE's position on value based pricing based on cost-effectiveness analyses is arguably not perfect, but it does define outcomes for the pharmaceutical industry in a more transparent manner. Clinician stakeholders, including the proposed GP commissioning groups will have difficulty in determining value without prescribed criteria and specified guidelines based around innovation and value. It is also questionable whether VBP would indeed spur innovation of drug development or in fact hamper research and development due to increased market access requirements and decreased profitability in the pharmaceutical sector. CONCLUSIONS: The definitions of innovation and value in the pharmaceutical industry and the NHS have different meanings for different stakeholders. A clearer understanding of VBP and its expected outcomes would be helpful to bridge the gap between the pharmaceutical industry and the NHS.