Market forces driving new collaborations in health economy

According to the PwC Health Research Institute’s "21st Century Pharmaceutical Collaboration: The Value Convergence" report, market forces are driving new sector collaborations to maximize real-world value and health outcomes.

Traditional drug makers have been pairing with insurers, health systems, patient groups and technology firms; these partnerships are leveraging personal health information as the latest exchange in drug development and commercialization.

"The new environment has patients, health insurers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) determining the value of therapies in the real world," Global Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences Advisory Leader at PwC Douglas Strang said. "Partnerships between healthcare insurers and pharmaceutical companies that promote real-world value are becoming the new measure of effectiveness, versus reliance on traditional measures."

According to the report, trending market factors such as rising drug costs, amplified competition in important therapeutic areas, unproductive and outdated clinical trial models and changing provider regulations and incentives are moving the attention to patient health outcomes and its relationship to value.

"Building technology into the drug development model to provide real-world evidence rather than the current system of self-reporting is a new risk pharmaceutical companies need to take to create the opportunity for competitive advantage and prove drugs have value to key decision makers like patients, payers and providers,” Mike Swanick, global pharmaceuticals and life sciences leader at PwC, said.