What Trend Do You Expect To Be Big In 2017 – And Why?

A: TRANSPARENCY IS THE NEW TREND. Our industry needs to make transparent how each end-user healthcare dollar spent gets shared between the innovator biopharma company, the insurance company, the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), or the hospital or treatment center. If we don’t make it happen, others will do it for us and create false perceptions (and there are plenty out there). Leaders from biopharma, insurance, PBMs, and providers will all need to sit at the table with congressional leadership and explain the healthcare reimbursement ecosystem. In congress, leaders will want and need to know who gets what for what. It is clear that innovators take enormous risk developing pipelines, and that cost is high. Despite people not wanting to hear about the cost of developing innovation, it does not mean we should stop explaining. Maybe courage is a new trend — the courage to stand up for transparency.

PAUL HASTINGS
Paul is chairman and CEO of OncoMed. He has over 30 years of biopharmaceutical industry experience, which includes serving as chair of emerging companies section for BIO for over 10 years.