Clinical trials produce no shortage of data. Yet to insurance companies deciding whether to cover a new drug, it might not be enough. Or rather, it might not be the right data.
A clinical trial studies a carefully selected group of patients chosen to demonstrate drug safety and efficacy. But after a drug reaches the market, payers might see it doesn’t work for everyone or it doesn’t work as well as it did in trials. Payers want better information so they don’t end up covering a drug that doesn’t work. Meanwhile, a pharmaceutical company faces the prospect of falling short of the drug’s market potential after investing hundreds of millions of dollars and a decade or more in development, said John Doyle, vice president and managing director of the consulting practice at biopharmaceutical services company Quintiles.
