Perceptions and factors affecting pharmaceutical market access: results from a literature review and survey of stakeholders in different settings.

Background: A change in the pharmaceutical environment has occurred from previously only needing to convince regulators of a product's safety and efficacy to obtain marketing authorisation to now needing to satisfy the value perceptions of other stakeholders, including payers, to attain market access for products. There is thus the need to understand the concept of market access that may be defined as 'the process that ensures the development and commercial availability of pharmaceutical products with appropriate value propositions, leading to their prescribing and to successful uptake decisions by payers and patients, with the ultimate goal of achieving profitability and best patient outcomes'. The aim of this research therefore was to explore the understanding of market access among various stakeholders and how their understanding of this concept could improve patient access to pharmaceutical products.

The value of childhood combination vaccines: From beliefs to evidence.

Although vaccination is one of the most cost-effective health care interventions, under-vaccination and variation in coverage rates lower than policy targets is rising in developed countries, partly due to concerns about vaccination value and benefits. By merging various antigens into a single product, combination vaccines represent a valuable tool to mitigate the burden associated with the numerous injections needed to protect against vaccine preventable infectious diseases and increase coverage rate, possibly through various behavioral mechanisms which have yet to be fully explored. Beyond their cost-effectiveness in protecting against more diseases with fewer injections, combination vaccines also have several other benefits, for children, their parents/carers, as well as for the health system and the population as a whole.