Dr Jane Barlow: Novel Financing Can Improve Access, Remove Barriers to Novel Therapies

Novel financial concepts will help to ensure sustainable access to gene and cell therapies, which may help reduce disparities, said Jane F. Barlow, MD, MPH, MBA, senior advisor, FoCUS Project, MIT Center for Biomedical Innovation, and executive vice president and chief clinical officer at Real Endpoints.

Transcript

How can novel financing concepts for gene therapies be used to address the broader discussions in health care about disparities in outcomes, especially in oncology?

So, I think that what is important is access. And the whole premise behind having these discussions in gene and cell therapy is ensuring sustainable access to these therapies, and the same will play over into oncology, as well.

So, in order to have access, you have to have coverage and reimbursement, and if some have more access to coverage and reimbursement than others, there's going to be disparities. This is not going to solve the problems of the front-end access to the provider, access to the physician. But if it paves a pathway that if a patient is seen, and they meet the indications for the treatment, then they have the opportunity for access to that treatment in an affordable fashion. That I think over time will help with those barriers.

Is it a panacea? No, it's not. There's other kind of fundamental issues that have to be addressed. But, you know, it certainly is a facilitator of improving sustainable access, I believe across the whole health care system.