The Astellas Pricing and Access Philosophy

At Astellas, we are working at the forefront of healthcare change to turn innovative science into VALUE for patients. Our aim is to make our treatments available to all patients who may benefit, and we are focused on ensuring access for both patients and healthcare systems.

We are operating in an age of scientific progress that presents immense opportunities to provide new solutions and transform patients’ lives, especially those with unmet medical needs.

At Astellas, we are developing first-in-class treatments that transform disease management and reshape patients’ and caregivers’ expectations of care. We focus our research in areas of high unmet need in underserved and serious diseases and seek to maximize both value for patients. We are developing innovative, research and development (R&D)-intensive treatments that require high-risk, resource-intensive scientific processes and capabilities, unlike generics or biosimilars.

Currently, healthcare systems around the world face serious and growing challenges, including aging populations, changing lifestyles, inequities in health outcomes, and cost containment during difficult economic times. While these issues are much broader than pricing, they have implications for how medicines are priced, and therefore how access can be equitably distributed amongst populations.

We are all likely to require healthcare treatment one day and we believe that the price of medicines should be a fair reflection of the VALUE they bring to patients, healthcare systems, and society as a whole. Developing life-changing pharmaceutical treatments for patients now and into the future requires deep investment, collaboration and a unique partnership between healthcare systems, society, the research community, and the innovative pharmaceutical industry, as well as sustained investment that drives continuous innovation.

The challenge of improving healthcare outcomes is not something that is owned by any one entity, but is a shared challenge, which requires a shared commitment from a diverse community of stakeholders. At Astellas, we recognize our role and responsibility when it comes to developing and providing access to our innovative therapies, and we operate based on the five pillars of our partnership approach.

There are five pillars that underpin our partnership approach:

VALUE based pricing:

To help us correctly determine the VALUE each treatment delivers for the patient, the healthcare system and society, we consider the impact of the disease on patients and their families as well as the impact of the treatment on patients and the wider society. Astellas considers VALUE as a ratio between the outcomes that matter to patients and the costs to the healthcare system of delivering these outcomes¹.

Equitable access:

Our aim is to make our treatments available to all patients who may benefit. We work closely with local and national governments, healthcare providers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), patient groups, payers, and others to help ensure access and affordability. We collaborate with all appropriate stakeholders to develop innovative and sustainable access solutions that provide demonstrable VALUE to patients and society.

Consistent approach with flexibility:

Our VALUE-based approach is applied globally to ensure consistency across various markets. We continuously evolve our approach to keep pace with the ever-changing complex and specific challenges in each market. We work proactively with appropriate stakeholders on innovative solutions to provide timely and sustainable access to our therapies. We have also developed a rigorous process to ensure our approach to pricing is consistent and systematic and aligned with the value delivered.  

Robust patient-focused data and evidence:

Data and evidence are key in determining the full impact of our innovation on the patient and the healthcare system. We prioritize collecting a robust, continuous and credible body of evidence and data both during the treatment development process and throughout the treatment’s lifecycle, once it is made available to patients. We do this working in partnership with patients, caregivers, health professionals and others.

Pioneering innovation:

Astellas is proud to have a portfolio and pipeline which is innovative in nature, with the aim that every therapy in which we invest is bringing a genuinely new and effective treatment option to patients.

Our focus is developing life-changing treatments that will benefit patients, especially those living with high unmet needs. We partner with healthcare systems to best serve existing patients, but also look to future opportunities that will benefit others. Intensive investment in R&D carries enormous possibilities for creating new treatments, but high-risk research means that some ventures will mean that not all of our development assets will prove to be effective, and therefore reach patients. The potential of future treatments can only be realized when healthcare systems incentivize companies, like Astellas, to continue to invest in their research and development capabilities.

We invest heavily in innovation so that we can continue to develop pioneering first-in-class treatments that transform disease management and reshape patients’ and caregivers’ expectations of care. We’re committed to backing the development of our own pipeline. This continuous investment is enabling Astellas to pioneer at pace to pursue highly specialised and innovative oncology, cell, gene, and regenerative therapies where there have been relatively fewer advances for patients.

At Astellas, we are relentless in our pursuit of scientific progress and in tackling unmet medical needs. We work to understand patient need, overcome barriers and find solutions together to ensure that we continue to turn innovative science into treatments and healthcare solutions that provide VALUE for patients, healthcare systems and society.