The Netherlands is falling behind other European countries in providing access to advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) according to Peter Fassler, Director of Market Access at Gilead Sciences, as indicated by the country’s low spend on pharmaceuticals per GDP.
Fassler said “it’s time to bend [the] curve on patient access and innovation” and called for “open dialogue” among stakeholders, while speaking at Advanced Therapies conference, taking place in London from 17–18 March.
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Drawing comparison with the UK government’s pledge to increase the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) cost-effectiveness threshold for NHS funding of new drugs, Fassler said the Netherlands is “lagging behind” in terms of willingness and recognition of an access problem.
In the Netherlands, high-cost drugs can be placed in a ‘reimbursement lock’ while a value assessment is conducted by the health technology assessment (HTA) body and price negotiations take place, which delays access.
The majority of ATMPs are assessed in the ‘reimbursement lock’ via a risk-based access procedure, which on average takes almost two years for the drug to be made available to patients, said Fassler. He also highlighted that the Netherlands has the lowest spend on pharmaceuticals per GDP among all Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) markets.
As per a soon-to-be published analysis of ATMPs placed in ‘lock’ reimbursement between 2015 and 2024, pharmacoeconomic challenges are often driven directly by pharmacotherapeutic concerns such as the single-arm design of clinical trials with investigational therapies, according to Fassler. Data also revealed that just 47% of EMA-approved cell and gene therapy (CGT) product indications were accessible to patients in the Netherlands, he added. This rate of access was among the lowest in the EU, alongside Belgium, Norway and Ireland.
Beyond ATMPs, a previous study by the National Library of Medicine indicated that market access for oncology drugs also lags in the Netherlands compared to other countries like Belgium, France, and more. As per GlobalData’s Price Intelligence (POLI) team, strict eligibility criteria for reimbursement in the Netherlands has led to a potential lag in patients being able to access new cancer drugs compared to other EU countries, eventually pushing the country lower in the drug launch order.
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Fassler called for a greater proportion of GDP spend on pharmaceutical innovation, faster access to treatment and greater patient-centricity to drive a more sustainable market access system. He also recognised the need to strike the right balance between making products accessible and maintaining affordability for healthcare systems.
Noting that many markets were facing similar challenges as the Netherlands due to rising healthcare costs across most European countries, Fassler said that often drug spend is scrutinised for savings. Given the geopolitical dynamics in the US, the topic of access and innovation is increasingly important, he added.
Cell & Gene Therapy coverage on Pharmaceutical Technology is supported by Cytiva.
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