Partnering with Patients and Physicians to Enhance Access and Improve Compliance: Working Locally to Help Patients Get the Medicines They Need
While Bristol-Myers Squibb sets a global price for each of its medications, pricing policies are adjusted based on local conditions, payer and competitive environments, unmet medical needs, affordability and humanitarian concerns. Patient assistance and support programs take various forms in different countries in the developing world, including in China, India, Russia and the nations of South America.
China
Sales of company products for hepatitis B in China remain the largest in the world by volume.
India
Bristol-Myers Squibb has developed a number of market-specific initiatives in India to expand access to its medicines and make them more affordable. For example, programs offer special incentives to refill drug prescriptions for certain products.
The company uses a third-party patient support agency, Oasis, to manage certain patient-related efforts, including programs to improve compliance and medicine availability for hepatitis B, diabetes and CML patients. In these programs, the Oasis agency delivers medicines to patients and also provides disease education materials and counseling services. Patient support materials are translated into nine languages other than English. Another diabetes management program, Path2Care, is being piloted and managed through a third-party with the goal of improving compliance and patient outcomes. A similar approach is being studied for use in Brazil with rheumatoid arthritis patients.
In addition, screening camps in India are supported by Bristol-Myers Squibb to uncover cases of hepatitis B and type 2 diabetes.
South America
In Argentina, Peru, Chile and Colombia, the company’s single patient use (compassionate use) programs for oncology medicines, along with physician support programs, help physicians gain access to rheumatoid arthritis, oncology and hepatitis B products for their patients.
Infusion and nursing support services for IXEMPRA™ (breast cancer) and ORENCIA® are also becoming more widely available throughout South America.
Brazil
In Brazil, Bristol-Myers Squibb patient assistance programs often provide discounts for a number of products in HIV, hepatitis and diabetes. Patients and physicians are also provided with disease awareness programs and other supportive services. In addition, Bristol-Myers Squibb has worked with local health officials to develop a robust program for adherence that involves training nurse practitioners, pharmacists and others involved in care in best HIV patient practices. To ensure expanded access, we continue to work to get our drugs on approved government reimbursement lists.
Colombia
Bristol-Myers Squibb support of Fundacion “Apoyarte” provides unbranded web-based information to patients and health care providers about hepatitis B and HIV treatments, as well as rheumatoid arthritis and transplant medicines in regions with a scarcity of medical resources. In the first three months of 2011, nearly 7,000 patients visited the website. This “virtual care” program also uses telemedicine, virtual classrooms and learning modules to strengthen disease awareness for health care providers and improve the delivery of care.
Also in Colombia, the “Mi Salud” program helps patients gain access to treatments for rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes. Some 1,500 patients were participating in the program as of the first half of 2011 as a result of physician referrals. Drugs in other therapeutic areas are also being added to this program.
Argentina
A program, PASOS, connects patients with rheumatoid arthritis with a third-party agency to help them complete government forms and accelerate access to medicines. The program is credited with reducing treatment wait times from four months to just one month.
Venezuela
The indigenous Indian population in this country has high rates of hepatitis B. Company-sponsored efforts to screen people for the disease and help them gain access to treatment involve traveling to extremely remote locations, including areas deep in the Amazon rainforest where medicines are delivered by boat and canoe.
Russia
Bristol-Myers Squibb is aligning with Russia Health 2020 and Pharma 2020 – two government initiatives that seek private partners to improve health care delivery in diabetes, oncology and HIV. These initiatives are seen as critical in addressing a growing national health emergency as Russia finds increasing numbers of people dying prematurely as a result of diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease and other diseases. As part of this effort, Bristol-Myers Squibb has begun to implement Virtual KOL (Key Opinion Leader) Exchanges, online programs to inform hospitals and health care practitioners far from major urban centers about best-in-class HIV treatments.
Major diabetes partnerships are also being developed to improve disease awareness in Russia, where Bristol-Myers Squibb already partners with the International Diabetes Federation on initiatives to improve care.
Gulf Region
Bristol-Myers Squibb uses video conferencing to educate physicians on the appropriate use of new diabetes medicines. This approach is helping to overcome challenges associated with attracting international speakers in times of political instability.
December 2011