Deals in pharma to secure market access are now business as usual. More deals will be needed in future too. Yet they take time and are not easy to successfully conclude. Could nudging the negotiations help?

It appears that the complexity of dealing with older products under the VPAG is the main cause of delays at the health department in sharing reference prices with pharma companies.

Launched in April 2014, the UK’s Early Access to Medicines Scheme has delivered pre-approval patient access to many treatments for life-threatening and seriously debilitating conditions. But after 10 years of the EAMS, the pharmaceutical industry wants new guidance and says the scheme should evolve so that companies can make the most of the opportunity it offers in the future.

The UK’s Early Access to Medicines Scheme celebrated its tenth birthday in April. In the first of two articles on experience with the scheme, the Pink Sheet looks at how far the inclusion of a product on the EAMS affects its chances of securing a positive HTA recommendation from NICE.

As the UK government implements a new rebate system for older medicines as part of the new pricing deal, industry trade bodies and experts suggest that exceptions will have to be made, such as higher prices or lower rebate levels for specific products.

With the clock ticking on UK drug pricing negotiations, it is still unclear whether even high-level terms of a new voluntary deal will be agreed in time.