Valuing Our Value: Can We Demonstrate the Return on Investment of HEOR?

ISSUE: After decades of investment in the HEOR function, the biopharma industry appears to have entered a stage in which it is actively questioning what it has gotten in return. To date, little has been done to demonstrate the return on investment (ROI) of spending on HEOR personnel and research activities. This contrasts sharply with other components of biopharma spending, in which measurement of financial impact and calculation of ROI are routine. Do we need to demonstrate the ROI of HEOR? Can we?

OVERVIEW: Since individual health economists first started getting hired by industry in the 1980s, the HEOR function has grown to become a sizable component of the typical biopharma company org structure and annual budget. Core elements of HEOR—economic modeling, patient-reported outcomes, real-world evidence, and the like—have become fundamental for demonstrating product value to health system stakeholders. The beneficial impact of HEOR has largely been taken as a given rather than open to question, amid the common notion that HEOR activities and data are table stakes to successful launch and market uptake of biopharmaceutical products. This issue panel will consider the importance of demonstrating the ROI of HEOR and the difficulties in framing the calculation. Laura Pizzi, the panel moderator will outline key questions for the discussion, including: What is currently known about the ROI of HEOR? How can we formalize ROI calculations for HEOR work? Sissi Pham will provide an overview of current thinking within the biopharma industry on the role and value of the HEOR function. David Thompson will outline alternative approaches to ROI calculation and corresponding estimation challenges. Jens Grueger will provide a management consulting perspective on how HEOR and related functions can be championed within biopharma organizations. The moderator will solicit audience interaction and feedback on the alternative viewpoints.