Can Managed Access Agreements Mitigate Evidentiary, Economic and Ethical Issues with Access to Expensive Drugs for Rare Diseases in the Canadian Context?

Abstract

Expensive drugs for rare diseases (EDRDs) pose challenges for regulatory and reimbursement decision makers. Managed access agreements (MAAs), conditional reimbursement schemes that use a variety of price and evidence generation mechanisms to support value-based decision making, have the potential to address the evidentiary, economic and ethical issues associated with EDRDs. Several jurisdictions have successfully used MAAs to manage budget impact and evidentiary uncertainties, demonstrating the promise of this approach. We comment on the feasibility of adopting MAAs in Canada to address challenges associated with EDRDs. Adopting MAAs in the Canadian context requires attention to Canada's federated healthcare and drug coverage system and will require investing in robust data infrastructure and governance systems.