Brilique recommended for use by Germany’s pricing watchdog
pharmafile | December 19, 2011 | News story | Sales and Marketing | AstraZeneca, Brilique, Plavix
Germany’s new pricing committee has said that AstraZeneca’s Brilique is a cost effective treatment for patients with a certain heart condition.
The Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) has said that AZ’s oral antiplatelet treatment Brilique (ticagrelor) was cost effective for people with acute coronary syndromes.
Its assessment said it provides an additional benefit to around 80% of the acute coronary syndromes (ACS) patient population in Germany, compared with other treatments.
It also said Brilique performed better than Sanofi/BMS’s standard treatment Plavix (clopidogrel), plus aspirin, in the non ST-elevation myocardial infarction/unstable angina population.
The G-BA has determined that the drug offers an ‘important additional benefit’ in this patient population.
Under new legislation passed in the country earlier this year, all drugs without the additional benefit will priced lower than Brilique.
Brilique is the first drug to be evaluated under the new AMNOG (reorganisation of the pharmaceutical market) legislation, which was passed in Germany at the beginning of the year to help regulate the prices of newly approved drugs.
This legislation established the G-BA to work with the existing Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Healthcare (IQWiG), a pricing watchdog similar to the UK’s NICE.
Its raison d’être is to scrutinise the cost effectiveness of new drugs in an attempt to keep the country’s drug bill down.
Both now work together to assess a new drug’s cost effectiveness against a suitable comparator and if the drug fails to demonstrate this, then its manufacturer may be liable to refund the government’s Statutory Health Fund, which originally paid for the treatment.
IQWiG already gave the drug a positive opinion in October, and AstraZeneca is to begin pricing discussions in January with the Federal Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds.
Adam Hill
Related Content
NICE recommends Benralizumab for Rare Form of Vasculitis
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended AstraZeneca’s benralizumab (Fasenra) as …
NICE approves AstraZeneca’s dual immunotherapy for advanced liver cancer
AstraZeneca has received a positive recommendation from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence …
Purpose and people: the enduring power of brand and the evolution of employer identity
Two decades ago, terms like purpose and people were rarely at the forefront of branding …
