Publication

From curative treatments for Hepatitis C to gene therapy to immuno-oncology, a new age of transformative healthcare therapies has arrived. As more of these cutting-edge treatments are approved and marketed for rare, specialty and large populations, patients, providers and payers question how healthcare systems can sustainably afford them. In addition, many of these therapies are effective with very short courses of treatment and even single doses, and will potentially result in long durations of health for patients and high up-front costs for payers and systems.

On October 14, 2016, a select group of biotechnology and drug developers, academics, financiers, economists, providers and payers convened in Cambridge, MA to discuss how innovative financing could help expand patient access to transformative therapies in the United States.  Co-hosts from the MIT Laboratory for Financial Engineering, Dana Farber, and Tapestry Networks sought to channel the cross-sector expertise present to address critical questions, including:

• How do we get transformative therapies to patients faster and cheaper while incentivizing the development of future transformative therapies?
• Who pays in the short and long-term: Taxpayers, consumers, or payers?
• Can financial engineering help make paying for transformative therapies, especially those that are curative in nature, more sustainable?