Value Viewpoint: February 21, 2025
Kimberly Westrich
NPC Chief Strategy Officer | Kimpossibility Life Coach & Yoga Teacher | Biopharmaceutical & Health Policy Researcher | Public Speaker
A new article published this week in Current Medical Research and Opinion assesses health inequality research in the pharmaceutical industry, highlighting key themes and potential research gaps. Through reviewing peer-reviewed publications and gray literature articles, study authors found that the most commonly included measures of inequality were race/ethnicity, sex/gender, and socioeconomic status.
The study found that the number of publications has increased over the past five years with the largest number of papers focused on inequalities in clinical development, including the need to increase the diversity of clinical trial participants (see image below).
A new JAMA data brief was published last week, which explores trends in healthcare spending across the U.S. in an effort to identify trends and disparities, as well as to inform strategies for lowering costs.
One study included in the brief calculates pharmaceutical spending as 13.6% of total healthcare spending in the U.S., with the largest categories of spending being outpatient care (42.2%) and inpatient care (23.8%) (see figure below). The brief also highlights important differences in spending and service utilization both across and within states.
Register for the Center for Value-Based Insurance Design’s upcoming Virtual V-BID Summit 2025[KW1]?. The event will be held on Wednesday, March 12th from 12:00-4:00 PM EST. Sessions will explore value-based payment reform, benefits design, and health policy priorities of the Trump administration.
??? Eye on ICER
A calendar of ICER’s upcoming reports & meetings:
Policy White Papers/Special Assessments:
- 3/4/25: Special Assessment to Inform CMS Drug Price Negotiation: Breo Ellipta and Trelegy Ellipta — Final Report
- 10/30/25: Launch Price and Access Report: Drug Approvals from 2023-2024 — Final Report
Value Assessment Reports:
- 3/26/25: Retinitis Pigmentosa — Revised Evidence Report
- 3/27/25: Acute Pain — Final Evidence Report
- 4/10/25: Multiple Sclerosis: SPMS — Draft Evidence Report
- 5/12/25: Retinitis Pigmentosa — Final Evidence Report
- 5/27/25: Spinal Muscular Atrophy — Draft Evidence Report
- 5/29/25: Multiple Sclerosis: SPMS — Revised Evidence Report
- 7/15/25: Multiple Sclerosis: SPMS — Final Evidence Report
- 7/17/25: Spinal Muscular Atrophy — Revised Evidence Report
- 9/2/25: Spinal Muscular Atrophy — Final Evidence Report
Meetings:
- 2/28/25: Acute Pain — Public Meeting (Midwest CEPAC)
- 4/11/25: Retinitis Pigmentosa — Public Meeting (New England CEPAC)
- 6/13/25: Multiple Sclerosis: SPMS (California Technology Assessment Forum CTAF)
- 8/1/25: Spinal Muscular Atrophy — Public Meeting (Midwest CEPAC)?
Contributing author: Brian Sils
...and 503 A/B Pharmacies & employer plans or vendors need to know and be aware of Breaking news from FDA today from Atty. Martha Rumore at Frier Levitt and others. Friday morning, 02.21.2025, the FDA removed semaglutide from the 506E shortage list. The drug had been on the list since 2022. To avoid disruptions in patient care, the FDA is providing a grace period of: 60 calendar days?(until April 22, 2025) for?503A pharmacies 90 calendar days?(until May 22, 2025) for?503B outsourcing facilities This grace period applies not only to compounding but also to the distribution and dispensing of semaglutide products that are “essentially a copy.” #epcouncil.org #onlyhealthcarepodcast