Elsevier Gold Standard builds out more drug selection, pricing data services

Early this year, Elsevier Gold Standard (Tampa, FL) introduced MEDalternatives, a data service intended primarily for pharmacy benefit managers and formulary committees at providers. The product, based on an extensive database of both pricing and clinical research information, is designed to provide formulary committees with up-to-date information on drugs by therapeutic class—and with pricing information included so that an overall health economics evaluation can be performed. Now, the company says that it is looking to adapt this resource to manufacturers’ market research and competitive intelligence purposes.

Elsevier Gold Standard has an existing product, ProspectoRx, that is also used for pharma market research; Doreen Jesseph, marketing director at the firm, says that the company has built a massive database of clinical and market data, and is tailoring slices of this database for a range of applications. (Besides tracking drug prices based on average wholesale price [AWP], wholesale acquisition cost [WAC], average manufacturers price [AMP] and others, it also has proposed an alternative pricing mechanism, predictive acquisition cost [PAC].)

With MEDalternatives, however, the emphasis is on collecting as much of existing clinical literature and reviews as possible, and then evaluating them based on clinical criteria for efficacy and safety. The company says that the thoroughness of its clinical evaluation is comparable to that conducted by clinical pathways developers; “Most doctors have a very hard time keeping up with the research literature, and this editorial process puts that literature in a form that doctors can use for prescribing,” says Angela Tobecksen, managing editor of MEDalternatives. An external panel of medical doctors is also part of the evaluation process.

Jesseph says that interest among PBMs and providers in MEDalternatives has been high; now, in effect, pharma manufacturers might have comparable pricing and comparative data in their briefcase when they sit down with procurement managers at PBMs and managed-care organizations.