The EACH/PIC Coalition submitted comment letters to the Maryland PDAB, providing input and feedback on the dossiers developed as part of the cost review process for Ozempic and Trulicity.
The letters stated:
“We continue to encourage the board to center cost reviews around the lived experiences of patients and the real-world affordability challenges they face. A review that focuses solely on systemic or payer-level costs risks overlooking the most meaningful aspect of affordability: the context behind affordability concerns, including the impact on people’s ability to access and adhere to their prescribed medications.”
“The compiled dossiers include limited data on patient out-of-pocket costs and how assistance programs impact patient costs. Most importantly, the data only tells a small part of the story. Findings from our recent Patient Experience Survey underscore why patient input is critical to effective affordability reviews. According to patients, affordability is often shaped less by the drug’s price and more by insurance barriers, cumulative health costs, and individual life circumstances. Whether patients paid $0–$10 per month or $250 a month, they still reported unaffordability due to insurance denials, utilization management, collective healthcare costs, or other access challenges that largely were unrelated to the retail or net cost of the drug.”
“We encourage the board to utilize the results of our study as a foundation when determining patient costs in their ongoing reviews, particularly as continued attempts to gain patient insights have proved challenging. Only by starting with patient input can the board appropriately address patient needs. For these reasons, we invite the MD PDAB to collaborate with EACH/PIC and our efforts to relaunch the Patient Experience Survey, utilizing data we collect to ensure patient testimony is included.”