Patient access is political, say CGT experts

While the cost of gene therapies is often debated throughout the life sciences space, a panel discussion at Cell and Gene Manufacturing and Commercialization (CGMC) in Amsterdam, The Netherlands last month highlighted that the discussion of innovative payment models must also include cross border healthcare patients and payments.

Francis Pang, senior vice president of market access and geographical expansion at Orchard Therapeutics, lead the panel discussion and told delegates “Unlike conventional medicines, there is a limited number of treatment centers [for gene therapies] and patients have to cross borders to receive therapy.”

According to the panel, there are many complications associated with patients crossing borders to receive treatment. Elizabetta Zanon, director of EU public affairs and advocacy at the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM), said not only do we “really need a paradigm shift on how health care systems operate to accommodate the pipeline […] We need to make better use of cross border healthcare and [help] facilitate patients to cross.”

Zanon acknowledged the difficulty of selecting a specific payment model when cross border healthcare is involved and put forward the questions: “What if a product is available and/or authorized abroad but not in the country the patients originate from? Is it the country delivering the therapy that be responsible for payment or is it the country the patient originates from?”

Though specific payment plans, and border crossing solutions were not put forward, Alexander Natz, secretary general at European confederation of pharmaceutical entrepreneurs (EUCOPE), said another thing to consider as “an important goal is that we don’t just bring product to countries considered to have a high GDP.”

Zanon echoed Natz’ statement, telling delegates that while border crossing does happen, it happens at “a low scale and we do not see many people allowed to cross borders because many places use complex referral systems that limit patient access.”

“It is a political issue, there is a political wheel to ensure the journey of patients to travel abroad and receive the therapies.”

This article was first published in BioProcess Insider on 9 January 2023