This paper illustrates how comparative effectiveness research can be used by policymakers and health insurers in California to address rising drug costs by aligning spending with the degree of benefit a treatment provides. ICER received a grant from the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) to develop the White Paper. Date of publication: March 2023 For […]
ICER has received a new grant from The Commonwealth Fund to evaluate procedural and methodological changes that could further support health equity goals in health technology assessment (HTA). The findings from this effort will guide ICER’s update to its value assessment framework and inform the work of other HTA groups worldwide. Join us on March 21st for a webinar explaining […]
While many key elements of fair access were not able to be assessed, the analysis found that major payer coverage policies for 19 drugs demonstrated high concordance with many fair access criteria related to cost sharing, clinical eligibility, step therapy, and provider restrictions. During ICER’s assessment, five payers revised policies for 11 drugs in ways […]
This White Paper examines the potential risks and advantages of reforms to current policies related to orphan drug development, pricing, and coverage. The White Paper does not advocate for specific policy proposals. Instead, it analyzes the potential benefits and risks of reforms that might serve to reshape the incentives for orphan drug development in a […]
The price of many existing drugs, both brand and generic, can increase substantially over time, and questions are frequently raised regarding whether these price increases are justified. State policymakers have been particularly active in seeking measures to address this issue. In 2019, we launched a new line of ICER reports, named Unsupported Price Increase (UPI) reports, […]
This California Unsupported Price Increase final report is based on drugs identified through SB-17, the California drug price transparency law. ICER found that increases in spending for many drugs under the SB-17 law may be primarily due to increased volume rather than increases in net price. Final Documents ICER’s Chief Medical Officer David Rind, MD […]
The need to improve drug affordability remains one of the few areas of bipartisan agreementin the US, with polling showing that a majority of both Democrats and Republicans want thefederal government to act to lower prescription drug prices. Policymakers from both partieshave advanced proposals to rein in drug costs, but there is no consensus on […]
In September 2020, ICER published the white paper: “Cornerstones of ‘Fair’ Drug Coverage: Appropriate Cost-Sharing and Utilization Management Policies for Pharmaceuticals.” This paper analyzes the ethical and practical dimensions of insurance coverage policy, while presenting a corresponding set of criteria that will support a more transparent discussion among all health care stakeholders about whether specific […]
This paper aims to create a clearer understanding of both the opportunities and challenges inherent in the FDA’s accelerated approval pathway (AAP), and to present an analysis of the potential risks and benefits of a range of reform options that policymakers may consider in efforts to strengthen the AAP moving forward. Date of publication: […]
The price of many existing drugs, both brand and generic, can increase substantially over time, and questions are frequently raised regarding whether these price increases are justified. State policymakers have been particularly active in seeking measures to address this issue. For example, both California and Vermont now have laws tracking substantial drug price increases, requiring drug manufacturers […]