Brazil’s Key Manufacturers and Payers
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In Brazil, we found that the main manufacturers proposing value-based contracts were Novartis, Pfizer, J&J Innovative Medicine, and Roche. Among payers, we identified 21 private insurers between 2021 and 2024. We also added ANVISA (Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency) and the National Commission for the Incorporation of Technologies in the Unified Health System (CONITEC), Brazil’s health technology assessment (HTA) body.
Therapeutic Areas
The therapeutic areas we identified in Brazil’s public agreements include:
Pricing Models
New pricing models from Brazil include:
Featured Agreements
These agreements are highlighted because they address high-cost, rare diseases and demonstrate unique approaches to drug access and reimbursement, including coverage with evidence development, outcome guarantees, and installment payments
Cystic Fibrosis:
Infantile Spinal Muscular Atrophy:
Ovarian Cancer:
Main Manufacturers:
Understanding the HTA Process for Drug Approval in Brazil
In Brazil, the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) process is managed by ANVISA & the National Commission for the Incorporation of Technologies in the Unified Health System (CONITEC). The process involves several steps:
As Brazil becomes a key market for Pharma companies, our library offers essential information to help you enter this market efficiently and ahead of the competition.
To learn more about Brazil’s Drug Access Agreements or get access to our library, book a demo with us today: https://www.lyfegen.com/demo
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A major change to Medicare Part D will go into effect next year, as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act. Most notably, the cap on out-of-pocket expenditures will be reduced from $3,300 to $2,000.
This brings us to another major development.
Update to Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program
CMS announced its selection of 10 drugs that were negotiated down in price, on August 15th. The selected drugs were identified as “single source drugs,” meaning there is no generic or biosimilar equivalent, and there is unlikely to be so in the near future. The new prices are estimated to save $6 billion in net prescription drug costs, representing a 22% reduction in spending. The new prices will go into effect on the 1st of January, 2026.
As the pharmaceutical industry goes through these changes, it’s crucial to have the right tools in place. This is where Lyfegen comes into play with its cutting-edge solutions like the Drug Contracting Simulator, an innovative tool designed to help Market Access and Pricing teams stay ahead in this landscape:
💡 𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘀: Build and test a wide range of drug rebate contracts, allowing you to quickly assess the impact on gross-to-net revenue and costs.
🤝 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲-𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁: Move away from Excel-based tools with our dedicated platform, designed for Market Access and Pricing teams, and re-usable across different markets and assets.
⚡ 𝗙𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝗕𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀: Streamline the creation of rebate agreements in a collaborative environment, helping you respond more effectively to new pricing pressures.Don’t miss out on staying ahead in this new regulatory environment. Book a demo with us today: https://www.lyfegen.com/demo
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To streamline the HTA process across EU member states, sweeping changes will go into effect in January of 2025. Instead of manufacturers of new health technologies needing to submit clinical data to each member state, under Regulation (EU) 2021/2282, the assessment will be conducted jointly. Manufacturers will only need to submit clinical assessments once, but member states can still conduct complementary assessments.
Important to note are the 9 assessment domains, of which 4 are clinical and 5 are non-clinical. The 4 clinical assessments include:
The 5 non-clinical domains include:
Spain released its Draft Royal Decree on the 12th of August, which is open for comments until the 20th of September, outlining how they will align with the Directive. This effort involves the Office for the Evaluation of the Efficiency of Medicines operating as a functional unit under the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices (AEMPS).
In addition to joint clinical assessments in Europe, there will also be joint scientific consultations. The goal of this Directive is to reduce duplicate administrative work and remove barriers to innovation while aiming to improve patient outcomes.
As these changes reshape the landscape, it's crucial for pharmaceutical and medical technology companies to adapt swiftly. Lyfegen can help you stay ahead with our cutting-edge solutions:
- Navigate New Regulatory Requirements: Access our extensive Agreements Library, featuring over 5,000+ public drug pricing agreements and 20 pricing models, to ensure compliance with the latest HTA standards.
- Optimize Decision-Making: Utilize our Drug Contracting Simulator to create data-driven business cases and run real-time simulations that align with Spain's new HTA guidelines.
- Streamline and Automate Contracting: Our Rebate Analytics solutions automate rebate and refund calculations, ensuring accuracy, transparency, and a significant reduction in administrative burdens.
Book a demo with us today to explore how Lyfegen’s tools and expertise can support your business under Spain’s new HTA framework.
Book your demo here: https://www.lyfegen.com/demo
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Major changes are on the horizon for Medicare’s outpatient drug benefit in 2025, particularly following the release of negotiated drug prices under the Inflation Reduction Act. These changes will significantly impact both payers and drug makers, requiring careful planning and strategy.
One of the most critical updates is the reduction of the out-of-pocket spending cap for beneficiaries, which will decrease from $3,300 this year to $2,000 in 2025. While this cap will help patients manage their healthcare costs, it also increases the financial responsibility for payers and pharmaceutical companies.
Challenges for Specialty Drug Makers
Specialty drug makers, especially those in oncology, will face new challenges with the introduction of a 20% discount during the catastrophic phase of Medicare Part D. Since many patients will reach the $2,000 cap early in the year, this discount will apply for a significant portion of the year, impacting drug pricing strategies.
Impact on Medicare Advantage Plans
Medicare Advantage plans and stand-alone prescription drug plans will also see changes. Their liability for drug costs during the catastrophic phase will increase from 20% to 60%, as the federal government reduces its reinsurance contribution from 80% to 20%. This shift will require plans to adopt new cost management strategies.
How Lyfegen Can Help
As the Medicare Part D redesign approaches, it’s crucial for payers and drug makers to prepare effectively. Traditional cost management methods, like prior authorization, will need to be complemented by innovative approaches such as value-based pricing and market access solutions.
Lyfegen offers essential tools to support these efforts. Our Lyfegen Drug Contracting Simulator allows you to model various drug pricing scenarios, evaluate their impact on revenue and costs, and strengthen your market access strategies. By utilizing this tool, payers and pharmaceutical companies can better navigate the upcoming changes and optimize their drug market access strategies.
Start Preparing Today
Preparing for these changes is essential to maintain effective drug pricing strategies in the evolving Medicare market. Lyfegen’s solutions can assist in designing Medicare Part D formularies tailored to your needs, and in identifying the most appropriate value-based arrangements from our comprehensive database.
Don’t wait—boost your negotiating leverage now. With 2025 fast approaching, the time to act is today. Start using the Lyfegen Drug Contracting Simulator to stay ahead. Book a demo today to get started.
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Insulin is going through monumental shifts in pricing and reimbursement in the U.S. It started with the announcement of reductions in list prices by drug companies last year. First, Novo Nordisk announced plans to reduce the list prices of several of its insulin products beginning January 1, 2024. This included lowering the price of NovoLog and Levemir by at least 65%. This move was followed by a similar commitment by competitor Eli Lilly to reduce Humalog’s price, among others, and came just days before Sanofi’s announcement to decrease Lantus’s price.
Moreover, biosimilar competition is ramping up, particularly in the long-acting insulin glargine space. Rezvoglar and Basaglar are leading the way, as they gain traction on payer formularies, especially in the public Medicaid market.
And this year, owing to implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services began negotiating the net prices of both NovoLog and Fiasp, with public disclosure of said prices due to be revealed by September. Payers will soon be able to use these net prices as benchmarks to leverage better deals in markets besides Medicare. Also, CMS capped monthly out-of-pocket costs of insulin products for Medicare beneficiaries at $35.
For their large populations of insulin-dependent diabetics, payers will need to implement value-based coverage decisions that provide for the most optimal solutions for health plans and employers but also the lowest out-of-pocket costs for patients.
Because both list and net prices have come down, payers will likely lose out on some portion of the rebates—which reflect the difference between gross and net price—that they had grown accustomed to getting in the past. At the same time, the increasing number of payers that are adopting a rebate-free, net cost approach to formulary design will benefit from lower net prices.
And cheaper treatment options for patients may translate into better adherence to drug regimens which in turn could lead to improved health outcomes. For payers with a long-term perspective and comparatively little churn or enrollee turnover the potential downstream cost savings could be beneficial.
Lyfegen can assist in the calculations of value for all insulin products, both short- and long-acting, in addition to the design of appropriate formularies.
If you wish to improve your negotiating leverage for insulin products you can do so with real-world simulations for effective prescription drug contracts. Discover the Lyfegen Drug Contracting Simulator, our intuitive solution for streamlining iterative, collaborative drug contracting design.
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Basel, Switzerland / Boston, USA – December 11, 2024
Lyfegen, a global leader in drug rebate management technology, today announced the successful close of its additional CHF 5 million Series A funding round. The round was led by TX Ventures, a leading European fintech investor, with additional participation from aMoon, a global health-tech venture capital firm, and other institutional investors. This funding represents a significant milestone for Lyfegen, enabling the company to accelerate its global expansion and innovation efforts, with a focus on extending its reach beyond Europe into new markets worldwide.
Addressing Rising Drug Costs with Intelligent Drug Pricing and Rebate Solutions
The healthcare industry faces increasing challenges with rising drug costs and the complexity of managing growing volumes of rebate agreements. For payers and pharmaceutical companies, manual processes often lead to inefficiencies, compliance risks, and operational delays. Lyfegen is transforming this process with its fully automated platform that ensures secure, real-time tracking, compliance, and operational efficiency at scale.
Today, 50+ leading healthcare organizations across 8 geographical markets rely on Lyfegen’s solutions to streamline 4'000+ rebate agreements while tracking over $1 billion in pharmaceutical revenue and managing over $0.5 billion in rebates annually. These solutions enable healthcare organizations to improve pricing strategies, accelerate access to modern treatments, and better manage rebate complexities.
Learn more about Retrospective Payment System
Scaling Globally with a Leading Rebate Management Platform
Already used by healthcare payers and pharmaceutical companies in Europe, North America, and the Middle East, Lyfegen’s platform is poised for broader global deployment. By automating rebate management, the platform enables healthcare organizations to simplify complex agreements, save time, reduce errors, and enhance financial performance.
“The market for innovative and personalized treatments is expanding rapidly, but with that comes increasingly complex and costly pricing models,” says Girisha Fernando, CEO of Lyfegen. “Lyfegen’s automated solution simplifies this complexity, helping payers and pharmaceutical companies unlock the full potential of rebates while improving patient access to modern treatments. With this funding and our new partners, we’re ideally positioned to accelerate our growth and make a meaningful impact globally.”
Jens Schleuniger, Partner at TX Ventures, adds: “Lyfegen is at the forefront of innovation, offering payers and pharmaceutical companies a powerful solution to address the rising complexities of pharma rebates. We’re proud to lead this funding round and support Lyfegen’s mission to bring greater efficiency and cost savings to healthcare systems worldwide.”
About Lyfegen
Lyfegen is an independent provider of rebate management software designed for the healthcare industry. Lyfegen solutions are used by health insurances, governments, hospital payers, and pharmaceutical companies around the globe to dramatically reduce the administrative burden of managing complex drug pricing agreements and to optimize rebates and get better value from those agreements. Lyfegen maintains the world’s largest digital repository of innovative drug pricing models and public agreements and offers access to a robust drug pricing simulator designed to dynamically simulate complex drug pricing scenarios to understand the full financial impact. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, the company was founded in 2018 and has a market presence in Europe, North America, and the Middle East. Learn more at Lyfegen.com.
About TX Ventures
TX Ventures is one of Europe’s emerging leaders in early-stage fintech investing. The venture capital fund invests predominantly in B2B Fintech across Europe - preferably in seed to series A stage.
For more information about Lyfegen’s solutions or to schedule an interview, please contact:
marketing@lyfegen.com
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In an industry often characterized by incremental changes, Girisha Fernando, the CEO and founder of Lyfegen, is making leaps. We sat down with Fernando to discuss the recent landmark partnership between Lyfegen and Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services—a collaboration that heralds a significant shift in the Canadian healthcare landscape.
Your partnership with Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services is quite a milestone. Can you share with us what this means for the current state of rebate management in Newfoundland?
Girisha Fernando (GF): Absolutely. This partnership is a transformative step for rebate management in Newfoundland. The current system, largely manual and complex, is ripe for innovation. With our digital platform, we're bringing a level of automation and accuracy that was previously unattainable. This means more efficient processing, less room for error, and a better allocation of resources, which is critical in healthcare.
That’s quite an advancement. And how does this impact the management of drug products, especially in areas like oncology?
GF: It’s a game-changer, especially for critical areas like oncology. Newfoundland and Labrador, as the first in Canada to use our platform, sets a precedent. The region, through the pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance, has been managing complex product listing agreements for drugs, including those for oncology. These agreements are vital for making treatments affordable. Our platform simplifies this, managing the various terms of these agreements efficiently, which is crucial for timely and affordable access to treatments.
It seems like a significant step forward for healthcare management. How does this align with the broader goals of Lyfegen?
GF: This partnership aligns perfectly with our goal to make healthcare more accessible and efficient. Automating the rebate process in Newfoundland and Labrador, especially for critical treatments in oncology, directly contributes to the sustainability and accessibility of healthcare treatments.
Looking to the future, what does this partnership mean for Lyfegen and healthcare systems globally?
GF: This is just the beginning. We're looking to extend our platform to healthcare systems around the world. Our aim is to make this technology a standard in healthcare management, fostering more efficient, sustainable, and equitable healthcare systems globally.
Read more about the partnership in the official press release.
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Basel, Switzerland, October 27, 2021
Lyfegen announces that Swiss health insurance Sympany is using the Lyfegen Platform to implement & execute complex drug pricing models. Sympany applies the Lyfegen Platform to execute and efficiently manage all value and data-driven pricing models. Sympany gains efficiency and transparency in managing pricing models with the Lyfegen Platform. It offers many pricing models, including pay-for-performance, combination therapy and indication-based models.
The Lyfegen Software Platform digitalises all pricing models and automates the management and execution of these agreements between health insurances and pharmaceutical companies. This is done using real-world data and machine learning enabled algorithms. With the Lyfegen Platform, Sympany is also creating the basis for sustainably handling the increasing number of value-based healthcare agreements for drugs and personalized Cell and Gene therapies. These new pricing models allow health insurances to better manage their financial risk by only paying for drugs and therapies that benefit patients.
"The Lyfegen Platform helps Sympany execute complex pricing models efficiently, securely and transparently. We are pleased to extend our pioneering role in the health insurance industry by working with Lyfegen. This is another step for Sympany to provide our customers with the best possible access to therapies in a sustainable way," says Nico Camuto, Head of Benefits at Sympany, about the use of the Lyfegen Platform.
Girisha Fernando, CEO of Lyfegen, says: "We are very proud to support Sympany in strengthening its focus on value creation, efficiency and transparency amidst the growing complexity of pricing models. It is clear that the trend is increasingly towards complex pay-for-performance arrangements. Ultimately, our goal is to help patients receive their much-needed treatments while helping health insurances better manage risk and cost."
The Lyfegen Platform aims to help patients access innovative medicines and treatments by enabling innovative drug pricing agreements. The Platform collects and analyzes real-time pricing data, allowing health insurances and pharmaceutical companies to obtain relevant information on drug benefits and related financial planning.
About Sympany
Sympany is the refreshingly different insurance company that offers tailored protection and unbureaucratic assistance. Sympany is active in the health and accident insurance business for private individuals and companies, as well as in the property and liability insurance business, and is headquartered in Basel. The group of companies under the umbrella of Sympany Holding AG comprises the insurance companies Vivao Sympany AG, Moove Sympany AG, Kolping Krankenkasse AG, and Sympany Versicherungen AG, as well as the service company Sympany Services AG.
In 2020, profit amounted to CHF 68.8 million, of which Sympany allocated CHF 27.5 million to the surplus fund for the benefit of its policyholders. Total premium volume amounted to CHF 1,058 million. With 575 employees, the company serves around 257,100 private customers, of which around 204,500 are basic insurance policyholders under the KVG. In the corporate customer business, Sympany offers loss of earnings and accident insurance.
More about Sympany: https://www.sympany.ch
About Lyfegen
Lyfegen is an independent, global software analytics company providing a value and outcome-based agreement platform for Health Insurances, Pharma, MedTech & Hospitals around the globe. The secure Lyfegen Platform identifies and operationalizes value-based payment models cost-effectively and at scale using a variety of real-world data and machine learning. With Lyfegen’s patent-pending platform, Health Insurances & Hospitals can implement and scale value-based healthcare, improving access to treatments, patient health outcomes and affordability.
Lyfegen is based in the USA & Switzerland and has been founded by individuals with decades of experience in healthcare, pharma & technology to enable the shift away from volume-based and fee-for-service healthcare to value-based healthcare.
Contact Press: press@lyfegen.com
Contact Investors: investors@lyfegen.com
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New York, NY - March 29, 2023 - Lyfegen, a global healthtech SaaS company driving the world’s transition from volume to value-based healthcare for high-cost drugs, announced at the World EPA Congress the launch of its latest solution: the Model & Agreement Library. The purpose of the library is to help payers and pharma negotiate better drug prices while providing an in-depth view on current international drug pricing models and value-based agreements. The database library serves as the basis for successful drug pricing negotiations, resulting in accelerated access and drug prices better aligned to their value for the patient.
The shift towards value-based healthcare, rather than volume-based, has been steadily increasing over the years. This evolution has further reinforced Lyfegen's mission to remain at the forefront of analytics and digital automated solutions for the healthcare sector. Indoing so, Lyfegen’s solutions help to accelerate access and increase affordability of healthcare treatments.
“Because of rising healthcare costs and the increase of medical innovations, the thirst for knowledge and need for value-based healthcare capabilities has surged among healthcare payers, and pharma companies across the world”, said Girisha Fernando, CEO of Lyfegen. “That is why we are so excited about launching the world’s largest database of real-world value-based agreements. It gives payers, and pharma a unique insight into how to structure value-based agreements.”
The Lyfegen Model & Agreement Library was developed as an accelerated negotiation resource for both manufacturers and payers – allowing them to save on time, money; and for the first time – an opportunity to learn at their own pace without incurring large research projects or hiring expensive external experts. Users of the library are now enabled to make informed decisions in determining the most suitable drug pricing models and agreements for their products.
The database holds over 2'500+ public value-based agreements and 18+ drug pricing models – spanning across 550 drugs,35 disease areas and 150 pharma companies. Its search capabilities are spread across product, country, drug manufacturer and payer – with all the knowledge, insights, current pricing and reimbursement activities shown in near real-timeacross the industry.
“Just an academic taxonomy of models is intellectually exciting but it's not really helping your typical customer”, said Jens Grüger, Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group (BCG). “The Lyfegen Platform goes several steps further. Payers and pharma have a problem and they want a solution. The Lyfegen Model & Agreement Library is practical. It offers case examples.”
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The Model & Agreement Library lets the user see the specifics of agreements reached between manufacturers and payers, including which disease areas and drug/device innovations were targeted. This market-leading database allows for one-to-one comparisons of agreements while heightening increased leverage during the negotiations process.
“I like having a palette of contracts that fall under different domains, like disease state, the way the drug is administered, or available evidence. There are different ways to make a contract attractive to us, to pharma, and to our physicians”, said Chester Good, Senior Medical Director Center for Value Based Pharmacy Initiatives at UPMC Health Plan.
This resource represents a breakthrough in the healthcare industry that facilitates the sharing of knowledge – a strong point of discussion that is becoming increasingly more important. Lyfegen is currently providing a limited time opportunity for industry professionals who are interested to try out the Model & Agreement Library with a complimentary 7-day trial.
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Basel, Switzerland, August 3rd, 2021
Lyfegen announces that its value-based healthcare contracting platform has been implemented together with Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies Switzerland (Johnson & Johnson) and a leading Swiss Hospital.
Through this new value-based healthcare approach, Lyfegen and its partners drive the shift towards what matters most to patients: improved patient health outcomes and more efficient use of financial and human resources, enabling a sustainable post-COVID-19 healthcare environment.
The shift towards a value-based healthcare in Switzerland and globally can only be achieved through the support of innovative technologies. Lyfegen’s platform is a key enabler for this transition. The platform digitalises and automates the execution of value-based healthcare agreements, paving the way for the resource-efficient scaling of such novel agreements.
“COVID-19 has shown us the urgent need for a more sustainable healthcare system. With the implementation of value-based healthcare agreements on the Lyfegen platform, we are extremely proud to help Johnson & Johnson and hospitals to accelerate the transition to value-based healthcare and improve patient health outcomes at reduced cost.” says Lyfegen’s CEO, Girisha Fernando.
Lyfegen's compliant, secure and patent-protected value-based healthcare contracting platform automates the collection and analysis of patient-level data. Users receive transparency on actionable health outcomes and agreement performance. Lyfegen’s contribution to this partnership is a blueprint for the scaling of value-based healthcare models across hospitals, health insurances, medical device & pharma companies globally. The partnership marks another important milestone for Lyfegen, as the company continues to grow and has recently opened its next investment round.
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Lyfegen is proud to announce that former New York State Medicaid Director, Jason Helgerson, has joined the Lyfegen Advisory Board.
Lyfegen, the provider of the leading value-based agreements platform for pharmacy, is proud to announce that Jason Helgerson has joined its advisory board. He brings his rich experience in value-based healthcare and more than 20 years of public service to this role. Jason’s forte is in creating effective value-based payment systems, facilitating successful cross-sector collaboration, and delivering transformative stakeholder engagement - all elements that underpin a successful value-based health and social care strategy.
“Seeing how Lyfegen uses advanced technology to solve the immense problem of drug pricing & affordability by enabling value-based agreements made my decision to join Lyfegen’s advisory board an easy one. I am excited about the value Lyfegen can deliver to healthcare payers, providers, and patients in the US and across the world,” says Jason.
In addition to serving as Lyfegen advisor, Jason is the managing director of Helgerson Solutions. He is a nationally recognized leader in value-based healthcare, healthcare & delivery system reform.
Most recently, he was New York State’s Medicaid Director, a role he held for over seven years, managing an annual budget in excess of $68 billion. During his time leading the Medicaid program in New York, Jason drove New York State’s Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment program (DSRIP). Over five years, the DSRIP program in New York created local, multi-sectoral partnerships with the aim of fundamentally restructuring the delivery of healthcare in New York & transitioning 80% of Medicaid payments into value-based arrangements. Jason became an internationally-recognized leader in public sector health care as part of his leadership of New York’s Medicaid Redesign Team, which helped reshape the program to lower costs – tackling a budget deficit – and improve health care quality.
Jason Helgerson earned a BA from American University in 1993, and his Master’s in Public Policy from University of Chicago in 1995. He also attended the London School of Economics’ Summer Graduate School Program in International Economics in 1994. He has worked in a variety of local and state governments, including the City of Milwakee, City of San Jose, CA, State of Wisconsin, and New York. He has served as the Medicaid Director for both the State of Wisconsin and the State of New York.
With vast experience in value-based healthcare, Jason will advance Lyfegen’s mission of accelerating value-based healthcare to improve patients’ lives in the USA.
About Lyfegen
Lyfegen is an independent, global software analytics company providing a value and outcome-based agreement platform for Health Insurances, Pharma, MedTech & Hospitals around the globe. The secure Lyfegen Platform identifies and operationalizes value-based payment models cost-effectively and at scale using a variety of real-world data and machine learning. With Lyfegen’s patent-pending platform, Health Insurances & Hospitals can implement and scale value-based healthcare, improving access to treatments, patient health outcomes and affordability.
Lyfegen is based in the USA & Switzerland and has been founded by individuals with decades of experience in healthcare, pharma & technology to enable the shift away from volume-based and fee-for-service healthcare to value-based healthcare.
More about Lyfegen: https://www.lyfegen.com
Related Links:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lyfegenhealth
Contact Press: press@lyfegen.com
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Lyfegen is proud to announce that João Marques-Gomes has joined the company’s Advisory Board. João is a university professor, a scientific researcher, and a management consultant in health management.
He is the Chair of Nova University Lisbon’s institute for Value-Based Health Care (VBHC), and the professor of the semester course “VBHC” at the Nova School of Business & Economics and at the Nova Medical School.
His research has been repeatedly funded by FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology, the Portuguese public agency for scientific research. As a management consultant, João Marques-Gomes has worked for public and private hospitals in Europe and Latin America, the European Commission, the Portuguese Ministry of Health, the Portuguese Pharmaceutical Society, and for pharmaceutical companies that are among the world’s top 10 pharmaceutical companies in sales.
In the past, João worked with ICHOM – International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement, as part of the implementation team. He is currently the Vice-President of IBRAVS – Brazilian Institute for Value in Health. João’s actions have had an important impact on the Portuguese society.
João has co-led the Cascais Agreement movement, which gathers the 80+ major stakeholders that have publicly signed the agreement that establishes that by 2021 1/3+ of the Portuguese health care providers must have had an experience with VBHC.
Lyfegen makes it possible for innovation to always have an open door in any market in the world. Thanks to Lyfegen, millions of people will have access to innovative treatments and will enjoy much healthier lives because of this.
João Marques-Gomes
João Marques-Gomes has a PhD in economics from the University of Evora (Portugal), and an MBA from the FIA Business School (Brazil). Part of his PhD studies was done at the University College London (UK), and at the Toulouse School of Economics (France). João did his training in VBHC at ICHOM (UK), at the Harvard Business School, and at the Dell Medical School, UT Austin (USA).
With his vast experience in health economics and value-based healthcare, João will support Lyfegen to achieve its mission of accelerating value-based healthcare to improve the life of patients.
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Join in from anywhere in the world for three days of incredibly interesting presentations and round-tables by industry experts all around the topic of pricing and market access in healthcare.
Only a week left to go! The incredibly exciting annual World Pricing, Evidence & Market Access Congress is taking place from the 23rd to the 25th of September virtually... giving attendees the opportunity to join from anywhere in the world! This is set to be the largest and most comprehensive yet, with over 1000 attendees and more than 230 speakers!
Lyfegen's Girisha Fernando and Nico Mros will be moderating a round-table “How do you include the patient perspective in an outcomes-based contract?” on the 23rd of September at 15:05 CET. Join us! Lyfegen has a digital booth so feel free to get in touch via the swapcard app, if you are already signed up.
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What is ISO 27001?
ISO 27001 is one of the most widely recognized and internationally accepted information security standards. ISO 27001 defines how an organization should manage and treat information more securely, including applicable security controls.
It requires a company to have an information security management system, which means having a documented process for managing sensitive company information, processes, and IT systems.
What this mean for Lyfegen?
To achieve the certification, security compliance was validated by an independent audit firm after a rigorous process of demonstrating an ongoing and systematic approach to managing and protecting company and customer data.
Being a company that manages sensitive health-data points, it is of utmost importance to us to ensure the best tech processes and security mechanisms are in place.
At Lyfegen, we are committed to complying to the highest tech security standard, continuously improving our solutions & processes, as we move forward with the operationalisation of value-& data driven contracts for a fast & sustainable access to innovative therapies. In turn, this will benefit patients worldwide!
We are audited on yearly basis by an accredited third-party auditor to keep our ISO status valid.
Want to discover our solutions?
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Lyfegen is building the leading contracting software solution to support value-based drug pricing arrangements. This mission requires a hands-on team to optimize all our processes. With Anca Marin joining our team as the new business analyst, we are set up for success.
We sat down with Anca to learn about her experience, her goals, and her aspirations.
Hello Anca, and welcome to Lyfegen! Please tell us a little about yourself: Where are you from, and what’s your educational and professional background?
Hello, my name is Anca. I am based in Bucharest, Romania. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and later earned a master’s degree in business management. Before joining Lyfegen, I worked in finance for three and a half years in various industries, such banking, insurance, and ICT.
What excites you about being a business analyst?
The novelty – I believe it is a role where you never get bored as there is always a new situation, idea, or feature to build up, and it is exactly the challenge I want.
Why did you decide to join Lyfegen?
I find meaning and desire in making a change for the better. I also enjoy the work culture and the idea of being part of an innovative company while making a real impact.
What is something you want to learn or improve this year?
This is my first role as a business analyst. Therefore, this year, I want to focus on growing my knowledge and skills as a business analyst, as well as in software development and the healthcare industry.
How will your know-how help to improve our customers’ experience of the Lyfegen platform?
Given my previous roles, I would say that I was usually the one handling challenging and complex situations when dealing with customers. Through these experiences, I learned to find ways to deliver the best results for customers, and I will continue to do so. I also describe myself as being super detail-oriented – and details always make the difference.
Let’s get personal: What are your favorite things to do in your free time?
Besides my full-time job at Lyfegen, I am also a handball goalkeeper. I have been playing since I was 11 years old, and I usually go to two to three training sessions a week. However, I like sports in general, so if I am not on the handball court, I am probably playing other sports, like basketball or tennis.
I also like traveling and nature and activities away from the big cities, such as hiking, backpacking, and camping.
Is there anything else you are looking forward to outside of work this year?
Outside of work, my plans for this year are to get a motorcycle, take trips to the mountains, and make great memories!
We are proud to have you with us, Anca!
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Under value-based drug pricing, the cost of a prescription medication reflects the value of the health benefit patients receive from the drug. Patients gain better access to effective, high-priced prescription medications, while health insurers manage financial risk and reduce healthcare costs.
U.S. consumers are paying more for prescription drugs
Patients in the U.S. pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. How much higher? Here’s an example:
According to a 2020 study by RAND Health Care, the manufacturer’s average price per standard unit of insulin in the U.S. is $98.70 compared to an average price of $8.81 in other industrialized countries.
Another 2020 study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) shows that, even after discounts and rebates, American consumers and health insurers pay more than double for most prescription drugs when compared to patients and insurers in other industrialized countries. Estimates included in a recent report from the Department of Health and Human Services (DHS) to the White House reveal patients who use prescription medications spend an average of $1,567 per person on prescription drugs each year.
High drug costs affect patient health outcomes
Patients may forgo treatment when high drug prices make healthcare too expensive. A recent poll of 1,526 adults conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) revealed about 3 out of 10 survey respondents had not taken their medications as prescribed over the last 12 months because of the cost.
Twenty-five percent of those surveyed reported taking four or more prescription drugs—members of this group were more likely to report difficulty affording their prescriptions. Instead of taking their medications as prescribed, the KFF survey found patients who had trouble paying for their medications often did one or more of the following:
Value-based drug pricing improves health outcomes
Value-based pricing relates the cost of a drug to the clinical benefit patients receive from the drug. When executed correctly, value-based healthcare (VBHC) contracts give patients greater access to effective treatments to improve their health outcomes while insurers pay drug prices that are in line with the value of the health benefit the drug offers.
Determining which drugs produce the greatest positive impact on health outcomes relies on the enormous task of collecting and analyzing patient-level healthcare data. One of the important ways VBHC contributes to better patient outcomes is by providing reliable, actionable, real-world data about healthcare costs.
When real-world data about a high-priced drug shows limited health benefits—or the same benefit as a similar, lower-priced drug—insurers can restrict access to the high-priced drug by requiring strict prior authorizations or increasing patient cost-sharing. When real-world data show a drug is effective, safe, and cost-effective relative to other treatments on the market, both healthcare providers and insurers work to facilitate access to that drug for patients who need it.
The Lyfegen Platform supports the transition to value-based healthcare
Lyfegen has developed a software platform that helps health insurance companies, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and medical device manufacturers manage value-based drug pricing contracts with greater efficiency and transparency. The Lyfegen platform uses machine learning to collect and analyze patient-level drug cost data to execute complex pay-for-performance agreements.
If your organization is considering the transformation from fee-for-service to value-based healthcare, Lyfegen can help. Contact us to learn more and to arrange a free demonstration of our platform.
Under value-based drug pricing, the cost of a prescription medication reflects the value of the health benefit patients receive from the...
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The Lyfegen Team is proud to announce that as of this month, Simon has taken on the new role of “Customer Success Hero” at Lyfegen!
Simon joined Lyfegen 6 months ago as a working student and very quickly, full of motivation and enthusiasm, took on important responsibilities. Supporting Nico in the management of Lyfegen’s customer relations, which include some of the largest pharma companies worldwide, Simon will be accompanying the customers during the entire journey starting with supporting the customer’s in identifying suitable models up to the continuous support of Lyfegen's solutions. By gaining a comprehensive understanding of Lyfegen's customers' needs, he will also be working together with the technical development team to further enhance Lyfegen's solutions.
We are proud to have him as part of the team and sat down with him to give you a little more insight behind the bike-riding, FIFA-loving, “Customer Success Hero”!
Hi Simon, so tell us: why are you leaving large corporates like Roche and UBS to join the start-up Lyfegen?
After working at these two large corporates for several years I felt like I needed to see something completely different outside the corporate world. I was getting too much into a routine and wanted to take on a new challenge. I always had this entrepreneurial spirit in me and when I got the chance to start at Lyfegen, I didn’t have to think twice. Lyfegen offers me the perfect environment and has a great purpose.
You are working already since January 2020 at Lyfegen; what fascinates you the most?
I am really fascinated by the huge enthusiasm and passion of the whole team! Everyone here is very dedicated to leading Lyfegen to success and to driving value-based healthcare forward. I am also fascinated with how many new things I learn every single day and I am very delighted about how much responsibility I could already take over in this short time.
How do you experience the collaboration with the team?
The team has a great spirit and I felt very welcome and involved from the first second. The communication within the team is very transparent and open-minded. Issues can be addressed openly and critique is always given in a constructive way.
Healthcare is changing to value- and data driven models. How do you experience this change with our customers?
Our customers are all very interested in value- and data driven healthcare, but these models are often a new experience for them. With our technical solutions and our know-how, we support our clients to make the transition to value-based healthcare happen. We are now at a stage where we are pioneers and proactively shape the future environment for such models together with our clients.
What are your personal next goals with Lyfegen?
My personal goal is to further grow with the company. Growing not only personally by gaining more experience and continuously taking over more and more responsibility, but also to help Lyfegen achieve its next milestones. I am looking forward to be part of this journey.
We currently have two open positions - What are your recommendation for other talents that are applying at Lyfegen?
If you are applying at Lyfegen I recommend you to be aware of what it means to work in a start-up. You need to be ready to step outside your comfort-zone, be willing to actively drive things forward and take ownership. If this is what you are looking for, then Lyfegen is the perfect fit for you. Lyfegen offers you the perfect environment to further develop yourself and to work on exciting projects that have a real impact and a great purpose, helping patients to access innovative therapies.
Enough about work! What passions do you have outside of Lyfegen?
I love bike racing and being in nature! I can often be found on weekends biking my way up hills and testing my limits! It’s a great way to disconnect and focus on nature. But I’m not always in nature – I must admit, I do love playing video games too, especially FIFA (and am the proud winner of our last Lyfegen FIFA tournament – yes, the team got together for a 8 hour challenge one weekend!). Work hard, play hard!
We are proud to have the Lyfegen team continue to grow with such fantastic team-members!
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On Friday, President Donald Trump signed four executive orders aimed at lowering the high cost of prescription drugs in the United States. Our COO, Nico Mros, dives into the four executive orders.
“The four orders I’m signing today will completely restructure the prescription drug market in terms of pricing and everything else to make these medications affordable and accessible for all Americans,” Trump said at the White House last Friday.
Trump goes on to state that Americans often pay up to 80% higher prices for prescription drugs than countries like Germany and Canada.
And while the timing seems anything but coincidental, Lyfegen does not intend to discuss political views but rather understand what this could mean specifically for healthcare innovation, value-based contracting and the patients whose life depend on access to innovative therapies.
Let us briefly and in simple terms dissect the four executive orders, which are subject to the regulatory review process post Friday’s signature:
The first order targets high insulin prices and EpiPens, requiring federal community health centers to pass discounts they receive directly to patients.
The second order would allow states, pharmacies and wholesalers to import drugs from Canada, where prices are drastically lower. Importing drugs would increase competition and cause drug prices in the United States to decrease. Up until now, prices were maintained high because importing medications from other countries for personal use was illegal according to the Food and Drug Administration.
The third order is aimed at preventing “middlemen,” more commonly known in healthcare as health plan sponsors and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), to pocket “significant discounts” negotiated — these being “up to 50 percent of the cost of the drug” while retailing them without a discount.
The fourth order, which has been signed but is being held back until Aug. 24 to give the healthcare industry time to “come up with something” to reduce drug prices, would allow Medicare to purchase drugs at the same price as other countries by implementing a “international pricing index”.
The international pricing index would align U.S. prices to those of other countries, such as Britain, France and Canada – countries where the cost of the same drugs are substantially lower because Governments cap drug prices.
So what does this mean for pharmaceutical innovation?
Simply aligning prices to countries where governments cap drug prices (in the case of the fourth executive order) or opening the import of prescription drugs from neighboring countries (in the case of the second executive order) will result in billion dollar losses for pharmaceutical companies within the next decade, increasing the risk of losing the funds necessary to drive innovation substantially (specifically the Research & Development of cutting edge innovative therapies).
“We pay for all of the resources and all of the development and foreign countries pay absolutely nothing,” Trump said. “Americans are funding the enormous cost of drug resource for the entire planet.”
But could this mean that pharmaceutical companies, trying to compensate their losses, would (or better said, should) be forced to focus on the root problems of healthcare pricing and come up with more wide-spread innovative pricing models for a more sustainable future.
Value-based contracting and technological solutions, such as those of Lyfegen, could support such a future.
In a world where value-based pricing is the norm, world leaders would not only look over to neighboring countries for pricing levels but rather would have to focus on the value of drugs and how they improve patient health outcomes.
Pharmaceutical company executives were scheduled to meet at the White House today to discuss the executive orders but the meeting was cancelled. Moving forward, one can only hope that healthcare innovation can start coexisting with sustainable expenditure and patient access.
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/07/27/us/27reuters-usa-trump-drugprices-explainer.html/
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The news are out: we are immensely proud to be partnering with Johnson & Johnson to advance value-based healthcare and help patients around the world. We dived into a conversation with our CEO Girisha Fernando on why this partnership holds so much value for Lyfegen.
Girisha, why was the partnership with Johnson & Johnson such an important milestone for Lyfegen?
Girisha Fernando: Johnson & Johnson and Lyfegen share the same vision of sustainable & a value-based healthcare environment. Our goal is to help patients to receive the healthcare treatments they need and with this partnership, Lyfegen is proud to have been a key enabler for Johnson & Johnson and hospitals to deliver better health outcomes for patients.
How can this partnership be a blueprint for future collaborations?
Girisha Fernando: The increasing demand for healthcare measured against the limited financial resources is forcing the healthcare system to deliver innovative technologies to patients at sustainable costs. This can be done with value-based healthcare approaches and value-based agreements. The partnership between hospitals, Johnson & Johnson and Lyfegen shows how healthcare providers, manufacturers and an innovative tech company can deliver more value to patients whilst making efficient use of limited resources.
What would you suggest healthcare payers and hospitals to do if they are considering to implement value-based healthcare agreements with manufacturers?
Girisha Fernando: I believe it is important to focus on how to deliver better patient outcomes at lower cost. Value-based healthcare agreements can be used as a value-maximising method. It allows payers and hospitals to measure health outcomes and the adjacent cost to achieve these outcomes. Thus, hospitals can pivot on focusing their resources on value-adding healthcare treatments whilst addressing financial risk and uncertainty. It will take initial & minimal investment, but the return on investing in value-based healthcare and technology will be in the form of more value for money and better quality and patient health outcomes.
Why is Lyfegen the right platform for this?
Girisha Fernando: With over 120 value-based healthcare agreements running on the Lyfegen platform, we provide the necessary expertise, knowledge and technical competence to our customers. With these capabilities, we break down the complexity of implementing and managing value-based healthcare agreements. And lastly, we ensure that our customers can improve patient health outcomes by using value-based agreements at scale, efficiently.
Learn more about our platform by booking a demo today:
The news are out: we are immensely proud to be partnering with Johnson & Johnson to advance value-based healthcare and help...
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He loves innovative tech and spending his free time reading Hi-tech books! Yes, we are proud to announce Lyfegen’s latest addition to the Kiev team: “Full-Stack Developer”, Dima Guzyk!
“Dima is extremely talented and with his passion to develop new and exciting technology that helps patients, Lyfegen’s products will reach new levels. We are very proud to have him in the team! ” says Lyfegen’s CEO, Girisha Fernando.
We sat down with him to give you a little more insight behind the book-loving “Full-Stack Developer”:
Hi Dima! Tell us a little about yourself: where are you from and what is your work experience background?
Hello! I’ve lived in Kiev almost all my life. This is such a beautiful city. For any lifestyle or interest, the city offers amazing opportunities to live out your dreams!
Regarding my work experience: After I graduated from university, I started working at Intellect Service, the biggest electronic document flow solutions developer in Ukraine. Gradually, my professional and communication skills developed and I became Team Lead of the company’s product. It was a great experience and led me to stay with them for 5 years!
My latest experience was at KPMG as a Software Engineer, where I participated in the development of various corporate information systems. Only after a short year, I had the fantastic opportunity to grow and take over the role of Senior Software Engineer.
This is your first experience in the Health Tech industry – what triggered this move?
This is my first experience in the Health Tech industry and I’m so happy! Working at Lyfegen gives even a tech development job a greater purpose: my work will indirectly support greater access for patients to innovative therapies – helping to save lives!
You are joining Lyfegen as a Full-Stack Developer. In simple terms: what will you be working on?
I participate in all the stages of software development, following the business requirements. In addition, I also analyze the domain in detail, propose architectural solutions to the problems we discover, write code, write unit tests, and help with creation of a reliable, scalable and secure application environment! In simple terms, I will bring the technical solutions of Lyfegen to life!
What are your next personal goals with Lyfegen?
My goal is to constantly discover new approaches and technologies, being able to make comparisons between them and implement the best to the work I do.
What motivated you to join?
When I discovered what Lyfegen was doing, giving patients worldwide access to innovative therapies, I knew I had to be a part of the team! Innovative therapies are necessary for humankind – it’s just that no one has been able to make these more accessible to a wider range of patients. This greater purpose and the impact that this technology has, was the key driver!
Enough about work! What passions do you have outside of Lyfegen?
I am an incredibly curious person! I have a wide range of passions that interest me but most of all I enjoy reading historical and Hi-tech books and magazines.
We are proud to have the Lyfegen team continue to grow with such fantastic team-members!
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