Owing to new developments and growing stakeholder interest, PDCI and H3 have now completed a second private payer PLA survey. In total, 30 complete responses were received from 25 individual pharmaceutical companies and five different private payer representatives.  With more respondents this year from manufacturers and representation from private payers, this edition provides a robust assessment of the private payer PLA activities underway in Canada.  This report includes a close examination of the negotiation process and the mechanics and logistics of agreements, an analysis of congruency between manufacturers’ and private payers’ perspectives, and an exploration of how the landscape has and will continue to evolve.

Some highlights of the survey include:

• 40% of manufacturers reported their preference for negotiations to be initiated after NOC;
• manufacturers indicated that the establishment of formal timelines and payer PLA expertise could equally improve the process – early engagement and a formalized process were also considered to be potential improvements;
• the primary reasons for payers to engage in a PLA was a request from the manufacturer, the high profile nature of the drug, and the suitability of its therapeutic class for PLAs; and
• manufacturers believe payers are negotiating to achieve a general competitive advantage in the market and to assist plan sponsors with lower drug prices.

A copy of the report can be downloaded from here.  PDCI and H3 would like to thank all the survey respondents for taking the time to provide their input for this valuable exercise.

Please feel free to contact Courtney Abunassar (Courtney.Abunassar@pdci.ca) or Chris Bonnett (chris@hthree.ca) if you have any questions on this initiative.