Sponsored Content by AscellaHealth, LLC.Oct 19 2023Reviewed by Louis Castel insights from industryDonovan QuillExecutive Vice President of Growth and StrategyAscellaHealth In this interview, News Medical speaks to Donovan Quill, Executive Vice President of Growth and Strategy at AscellaHealth, about the recurring challenges of seeking market access for rare disease therapies.
Can you elaborate on how an effective market access strategy contributes to the commercialization success of a product? Due to the small patient populations, rare disease therapies are often not recognized as much as they should be. This makes it increasingly important to understand how value is perceived by the specific audiences, such as the NHS or private payers involved, and ensure that all important elements are covered upfront to demonstrate value.
The NHS or private payers will focus on affordability and value alongside efficacy. Patients may also want to understand the affordability aspect, but most likely solely from the perspective of the likelihood of a treatment being covered. To ensure activity is coordinated, it also helps to map out key program and product launch milestones in terms of an operational blueprint. It is imperative to identify critical touchpoints with all stakeholders regarding data gathering and key 'communication and intervention points.'
Some treatments might not work after the patient has passed a certain threshold. Therefore, this is an added limitation because diagnosis, awareness, and detection can take much longer with rare diseases. In the context of pricing and reimbursement for rare disease products, how do you balance reflecting the product's value and addressing budget constraints? There is a cost to bringing therapies to market and gaining approval, which needs to be recognized; otherwise, we will never see innovation.
Can you discuss the significance of therapy discontinuation metrics and how they relate to supporting interventions that minimize the discontinuation of a rare disease therapy? With most diseases, there are typical key points where it is important to reach and obtain data. Identifying these enables the identification of effective intervention points.
This data will enable earlier, improved conversations with payers regarding what they would like to see from the patient cohort and the health economics they need – ultimately, what it takes to cover the patient. With the many specialty and rare disease products AscellaHealth has helped bring to market, an in-depth understanding of each specific therapeutic condition and the specialty and rare disease healthcare ecosystem has been the most impactful. This understanding encompasses challenges and opportunities, as well as the wide-ranging expertise necessary to streamline product commercialization and ensure success throughout each stage of the product lifecycle.
It takes a talented group of people to truly understand the landscape and do all these things. However, when done correctly, accessibility and outcomes are improved for those that matter most – patients.Donovan Quill, the founder of Optime Care and former CEO, plays a pivotal role as the Executive Vice President of Growth & Strategy at AscellaHealth. With a distinguished background in the pharmaceutical industry, Donovan has a proven track record of success.