Scottish reforms proven to work says SMC
pharmafile | March 4, 2015 | News story | Sales and Marketing | NHS, NICE, Onglyza, PACE, SMC, Scotland, anne lee, scottish
The chief pharma advisor for the Scottish Medicines Consortium Anne Lee says changes to its processes have contributed to improved decision-making and patient understanding.
Scotland overhauled its medicines access system last year following complaints from charities and interest groups alleging that patients were losing out. The reforms included the conception of Patient and Clinician Engagement (PACE) meetings held by the Scottish drugs pricing watchdog.
Furthermore, the changes gave pharma companies the chance to drop their prices should they initially charge more than the SMC will accept, and the body has also applied more flexible approaches to the evaluation of ultra-orphan medicines.
Speaking at the 9th annual Pharma Pricing & Market Access Congress, Lee told delegates: “We’ve made a huge change in a short period of time, so now we need to evolve them as the process goes on.”
The event held in London last week saw Lee discuss the review of changes to the Scottish drug approval system. The congress brought together more than 200 attendees and 40 industry speakers from 15 countries.
So far seven PACE meetings have taken place and eight new medicines have been accepted through the new process, including Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Yervoy (ipilimumab) for first-line treatment of advanced melanoma.
Similar to NICE in England, the SMC makes its decisions based on evidence about how well the drug works and its cost-effectiveness. The final verdict is supported by advice from patient organisations, health professionals, experts, and other interested parties.
Lee said: “Our view is that most of these would not have been accepted through the old process. We’ve had full capacity at all our meetings and there has been a big attendance from pharma, and the feedback has been very positive.
“We’ve also made a commitment to hold as much of the meeting in public as we possibly can.”
According to Lee 70% of SMC meeting attendees said they had improved their understanding of SMC decision-making since the gatherings went public.
“We have made a commitment to listening to what patients’ value – I think the challenge is that we’re in the exactly same financial crisis as everyone else so the task is achieving value for the payers.”
Lee concluded that there is a much bigger opportunity now for patients and clinical experts to have their say regarding what’s important about the new medicines coming through.
Tom Robinson
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