ICER Outlines Alternative Models for Judging Price of COVID-19 Treatments
May 10, 2020
The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) recently recommended two alternative models for judging the “fairness” of pricing for future COVID-19 treatments.
ICER proposed a cost-recovery model and traditional cost-effectiveness model for COVID-19 treatments.
According to ICER, the cost-recovery model has the following elements:
- minimum cost of producing the final finished product;
- research and development costs provided by the innovator;
- research and development costs provided by the federal government; and
- additional profits beyond cost recovery.
Using the cost-effectiveness model, ICER suggests Gilead’s COVID-19 treatment, remdesivir, should be priced at approximately $4,500 per treatment course.
“Results are provided suggesting the prices at which remdesivir would be considered cost-effective at different cost-effectiveness thresholds,” ICER said about the cost-effectiveness model. “As noted earlier, in public health emergencies, and with such great clinical evidence uncertainty, cost-effectiveness analysis results should be viewed with caution.”
A number of media outlets covered the announcement, including FiercePharma, Fortune and Inside Health Policy.
BioPharma Dive in a recent article outlines how ICER has set a starting point for debating the price of the drug. Public Citizen says the drug should be priced at $1 per day.
To read more on ICER’s website, click here.