Dr Zahra Mahmoudjafari Explains How Payers Can Better Manage CAR T Costs, Increase Access

Zahra Mahmoudjafari, PharmD, BCOP, clinical pharmacy manager at the University of Kansas Health System, explains some of the strategies that payers can use to improve cost management and increase patient access related to chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) therapies.

Transcript

What are some strategies that payers can implement to better manage costs related to CAR T therapies and improve patient access?

That's a great question and a loaded one. I don't know the answer to that because I believe that the CAR T products and the entire pipeline has challenged both health systems and payers alike, because it is so extremely expensive—and it's not just for the cost of the product itself. It's also the before care with the leukapheresis and the lymphodepleting chemotherapy. It's the during care of the product, and then it's the aftercare, which can vary.

There are different contracts in place at this time point. There are single-case agreements as a standard. I think payers have looked at different models of outcome-based agreements and value-based agreements. Beyond single-case agreements, they've been looking at potentially a center of excellence type of model. I'm actually really looking forward to seeing how we can work together. I think it is going to be a team effort, because these products continue to come out and they're very, very expensive. It's a challenge.