Reports from BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. Advance Knowledge in Gene Therapy (Health Insurance Coverage and Switching Among People With Hemophilia a In the United States): Biotechnology – Gene Therapy

2022 MAR 30 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Biotech Business Daily -- Investigators publish new report on Biotechnology - Gene Therapy. According to news reporting originating in San Rafael, California, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Hemophilia A (HA) is marked by substantial economic burden, including costs of ongoing treatment, increased monitoring, bleed events, and other health care utilization associated with managing the disease and comorbidities related to the disease. Gene therapies and other anticipated breakthrough treatments hold potential to substantially offset tong-term traditional factor VIII (FVIII) prophylaxis in specific populations.”

Financial supporters for this research include BioMarin Phar-maceutical Inc., Hinds, Chen, BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc.

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc., “Fragmentation of the US insurance system, however, may impact payers’ approaches to coverage of new treatments, given concerns about patients ‘switching’ insurance and the payer’s ability to offset costs over time. To assess insurance coverage and switching across payers among people with severe HA (SHA) using real-world data. Adult men with SHA (FVIII measuring <1%) in the American Thrombosis and Hemostasis Network dataset between January 2013 and September 2019 were identified. Patients’ primary insurance category (ie, commercial, Medicaid, Medicare) and insurance switching over time were described. Outcomes included distribution of current primary insurance coverage by category and mean years of coverage per payer for commercially insured patients, including those with 2 or more commercial payers, and for those who switched insurance categories (eg, coverage by a commercial payer and government payer). Among the cohort of patients with SHA (N.3,677), 51.9% had commercial primary insurance and 29.0% had coverage by Medicaid (including state-funded programs). The mean duration of follow-up in the database was 6.3 years for patients with at least 1 year of follow-up. Among patients who had ever been commercially insured, 74.9% had the same commercial payer for the entire follow-up period. The mean time covered by the same commercial insurance was 4.8 years. Only 7.5% of patients switched insurance categories (eg, from commercial to Medicaid). Among those who switched categories, patients averaged 3.9 years of commercial coverage, 4.0 years of Medicaid coverage, and 4.8 years of Medicare coverage during the follow-up period. Both commercially and government-insured patients with SHA typically maintain continuous coverage for extended periods, with limited switching between payers and insurance categories over time.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “These findings suggest that should breakthrough treatments be approved, payers would likely be able to realize substantial cost savings associated with avoiding tong-term prophylactic therapies during the several years after treatment.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Health Insurance Coverage and Switching Among People With Hemophilia a In the United States. Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy, 2022;28(2):232-243. Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy can be contacted at: Acad Managed Care Pharmacy, 100 N Pitt St, 400, Alexandria, VA 22314-3134, USA.

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Er Chen, BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc., San Rafael, CA 94901, United States. Additional authors for this research include Chunla He, Dunlei Cheng, Michael Recht, David Hinds, Joshua Sammon, Paul G. Solari and Edmund Pezalla.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.18553/jmcp.2021.21311. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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