How we facilitated mock negotiations with payers to improve the pricing strategy for a new biologic in Latin America

The challenge

Our client had developed the first targeted (biologic) therapy for an immunological condition that could be used for long-term management of the disease and durably improve signs, symptoms and quality of life. At offered prices, it would be cost-effective and have comparable / lower net budget impact than analogues.

However, payers in Latin America were still expected to add further barriers or reject the reimbursement request. As a result, our client wanted to understand how they should manage payer objections within the value proposition, clinical evidence and economic value of the product.

The solution

Our soA two-day workshop was conducted in a central location with fifty client representatives of global and regional teams, negotiating affiliates and other multidisciplinary participants from across Latin America. In addition, a panel of external experts made up of current and former payers and payer-advising KOLs from across the region were recruited to help simulate future pricing and market access (PMA) negotiations. The key objective of the workshop was to help support regional teams with PMA submissions and negotiations by aligning them on the value proposition, improving negotiation skills, and training with real-life experts to exploit full pricing and market access potential.

On day one participants received comprehensive negotiation skills training before entering into the first round of mock negotiations with the expert panels. The affiliates then revised their presentations and re-presented to the expert panels on the second day. Breakout sessions were organized with all remaining participants to identify and assess expert objections, isolate key takeaways from observed negotiations and initiate reflections on regional strategies.

The outputs

By conducting the workshop our client was able to understand negotiation theory and practice tactics, test and refine new approaches for each market, identify potential weaknesses, and improve future access objectives. After completion of the workshop we triangulated the observations, analysis, and event highlights in order to develop a set of clear, pragmatic and actionable recommendations to strengthen each affiliate’s pricing and access strategy.