Healthcare plan will set up agency to compare drugs

The new nonprofit Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute will get a steady stream of funding from three sources, and a board of experts appointed by the Health and Human Services Secretary who are supposed to be free of obvious conflicts of interest. The goal is to save money and improve health care by cutting through the confusing mass of information put out by drug companies promoting their products. Essentially it is an independent agency to compare prescription drug treatments.

“If I am a doctor, most of the information I have comes from the pharmaceutical representative who comes to my office. That is not independent science,” said Larry McNeely of the Public Interest Research Group. “Often times there is a much more effective treatment out there that physicians just don’t know about. This will begin to ensure that this won’t happen so much,” McNeely added in a telephone interview. “This is heck of a start.”

Heck of a start ? First let’s be realistic here. Physicians are seeing less drug reps and are, according to Manhattan Research, turing their attention to the Internet for medical information. What this new agency means is that insurers will now have the right to say no when it comes to the writing of some medications. They will, based on what this agency says, recommend treatments and you can be sure that if the treatment is less expensive than the branded treatment it will be a generic product.

You therefore have to wonder what is going to happen if a drug company study shows better efficacy and the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute shows a different outcome ? Who will physicians believe ? Well obviously trust within the drug industry is severely strained right now but my guess is that physicians will write what they believe to be the best treatment or write what insurers want them to write. This is especially true if the patient has to pay a lot more or if a physician is compensated on what he/she writes for the patient vs. the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

Marketing to health care professionals just became a lot harder for drug companies but then drug companies, even with the downsizing of drug reps, still have way too many salespeople and put much to much emphasis on drug reps. This is going to lead to changing of HCP marketing but the drug industry will probably wait too long before they address the issue proactively.