Institute for Patient Access study outlines ICER limitations

The Institute for Patient Access (IfPA) recently released a case study about limitations in the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) report on emerging migraine medications. ICER assesses the clinical effectiveness and value of drugs, including the new CGRP inhibitor medicines for migraine prevention.

The IfPA case study outlines how differences in migraine impact across patients make it difficult to reach an estimated value-based price, which ICER defines as the medicine’s average value to the entire migraine population. For example, all patients experience migraine differently and might have unique medical comorbidities that aren’t factored into the value-based price. Also, patients might react differently to CGRP inhibitors, meaning that the value and impact of the drugs differs as well.

This could be troubling for some migraine patients as ICER has a significant impact on patient access to medications. ICER’s final report will be used by insurance companies to determine whether they will cover the new class of CGRP medicines.