CER Daily Newsfeed

Value Viewpoint: May 15, 2026

(5/15, Kimberly Westrich, LinkedIn) comments “In our latest Health Affairs Forefront piece, ‘Value-Based Insurance Design in the Modern Era: Principles, Promise, and Policy,’ coauthors Yevgeniy Feyman, John O’Brien, and I outline how today’s dynamics create a unique window to leverage value-based insurance design principles as a potential framework to shift the focus from ‘how much’ to ‘how well’ we spend our healthcare dollars...The commentary focuses on three core elements: The current design system is broken. Perverse incentives of PBMs and insurers are resulting in benefit designs that fail patients and employers. Healthcare stakeholders are taking notice, leading to legislative, regulatory, and market responses. Value-based insurance design (VBID) offers a potential evidence-based framework for redesigning healthcare benefits to incentivize the delivery of high-value care and better align patient cost-sharing with clinical value.” Full

Evidence-Based Medicine Needs Real-World Data to Evolve

(5/17, Saurabh Gombar, MD, KevinMD.com) comments “...The challenge is not only finding existing evidence, but generating it when none exists. Advances in data and analytic methods now allow us to learn from large collections of real-world patient data. When used carefully, these data can help answer questions about patients similar to the one being treated. The goal is not to replace randomized trials, but to extend what they can answer. Bringing this capability into clinical workflows is a critical step. Embedding tools within the electronic health record (EHR) allows clinicians to ask questions and receive answers without leaving the care setting.” Full

Why Real-World Evidence Is Becoming the Missing Link Between Innovation and Patient Care in Oncology

(5/18, C.K. Wang, MedCity News) comments “...When built from clinically rich, longitudinal data, real-world evidence provides a way to link what is demonstrated in trials with what actually happens in practice. It offers visibility into how therapies perform across broader, more diverse patient populations and over longer time horizons than most trials capture. For clinicians, this translates into more informed treatment strategies...” Full

Drug Prices in US Are Too High. Here’s How to Lower Them.

(5/18, Ashish K. Jha, Irene Papanicolas, The Boston Globe) comments “...Expanding negotiation, fixing the patent system, and requiring that price reflect value at launch would not eliminate pharmaceutical innovation — they would redirect it toward the patients it is supposed to serve. The National Health Service in England pays half for the same drug as in the United States because their system decided the price had to be justified. Ours never asked.” Subscription Required

Drug Companies Spurned by Supreme Court on Price Negotiation Law

(5/18, Greg Stohr, Bloomberg Law) reports “The US Supreme Court turned away appeals from six pharmaceutical companies seeking to topple the Medicare drug price negotiation program that’s led to billions of dollars in discounts on top-selling treatments. Making no comment, the justices on Monday refused to hear a variety of constitutional arguments against a program created in 2022 by President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act...US Solicitor General D. John Sauer urged the justices to reject the appeals, noting that federal appeals courts so far have uniformly upheld the law. Sauer said in court papers that the drugmakers can always stop participating in Medicare if they dislike its terms.” Subscription Required

Campaigners Threaten Legal Action over UK-US Deal on Prices NHS Pays for Drugs

(5/17, Denis Campbell, The Guardian) reports “Campaigners against the UK’s controversial drug pricing deal with Donald Trump are threatening the government with legal action unless it scraps a key element of the plan. They claim that a change to how drug treatments are approved for use by the NHS, which could lead to it paying even higher prices for them, amounts to an ‘unlawful power grab.’” Full

U.K. Advocacy Groups Threaten Court Action Over a Key Provision in The Pharma Trade Deal With The U.S.

(5/17, Ed Silverman, STAT+) reports “...The advocacy groups are not alone in raising such concerns. Late last month, more than 30 members of Parliament signed a House of Commons motion voicing their disapproval that the health secretary will have the power to override NICE when determining how much the NHS should spend on individual medicines.” Subscription Required

Unlocking More Value from Mature Drug Products Through Strategic Outsourcing

(5/18, Cencora, Biopharma Dive) comments “...In Europe, health technology assessment (HTA) bodies are increasingly asking for evidence of the clinical and economic value of mature or off-patent products for which continuing reimbursement is sought. An outsourcing partner with expertise in health economics and outcomes research, biostatistics, policy and market access can help out-of-market companies meet European HTA requirements efficiently and without a need for cross-border hiring. The partner can also supply responsible persons and qualified persons for pharmacovigilance.” Full