Patients could soon be reimbursed for ineffective anti-obesity drugs after human omics company Ovation and precision medicine company PrecisionLife partnered to develop a first-of-its-kind test. 

The collaboration between the companies aims to develop drug-response biomarkers for glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1) therapies. The resulting findings could form the basis of a reimbursement policy allowing patients to get money back if they fail to tolerate or respond to the GLP-1 anti-obesity drugs. 

The unprecedented initiative will uncover the biological mechanisms determining individual variation in response to GLP-1s and find biomarkers associated with their safety, efficacy, and tolerability. The goal is to help payors and providers achieve the best, most cost-effective outcomes for patients using GLP-1s, reducing clinical waste, improving access, and sustaining healthcare budgets as demand continues to rise. The tools will also help biopharma companies launch new GLP-1 products in indications that are not currently reimbursed. 

By identifying drug-response biomarkers that predict efficacy, safety, and tolerability, PrecisionLife and Ovation will enable the development of a Mechanostic test that can help payors and publicly funded healthcare systems determine where GLP-1 therapies are most clinically and economically justified. This mechanism-based approach will make it possible to structure value-based reimbursement frameworks, where costs are aligned to real-world benefit and patient outcomes. 

“This proof-of-concept project will enable a more sustainable approach to the use of GLP-1 receptor agonists and demonstrate our abilities to provide solutions in high value disease states where precision medicine and therapy selection address unmet needs,” said Curt Medeiros, Chief Executive Officer of Ovation.io.  

“By combining Ovation’s best-in-class longitudinal omics and clinical data generation capabilities with PrecisionLife’s world-leading analytics, we aim to build the real-world evidence needed to guide payors toward smarter reimbursement policies that improve patient outcomes while controlling cost.” 

GLP-1s are ‘tremendous opportunity’ and ‘major challenge’

GLP-1s represent one of the fastest-growing therapeutic classes globally, with research by Goldman Sachs indicating the market for obesity drugs will be worth $95 billion by 2030. In the US alone, an estimated 30 and 70 million prescriptions for GLP-1s will be written annually by the end of the decade.  

However, high cost and soaring demand pose a major challenge for payors. The drugs may not be safe, effective or tolerable for all patients, and large-scale prescribing without understanding likely response can lead to unsustainable budget pressures that crowd out other essential health services. 

As GLP-1 therapies move into secondary indications such as cardiovascular, kidney, liver, and neurological diseases, the ability to predict drug response will be increasingly valuable. Understanding where these therapies work best will optimise resource allocation and help expand appropriate use of GLP-1s across multiple therapeutic areas − supporting both payors’ cost sustainability and prevention value proposition as well as underpinning pharma’s market growth in an increasingly competitive market. 

“GLP-1s present both a tremendous preventative health opportunity across multiple indications and a major challenge for health systems and payors,” added Steve Gardner, Chief Executive Officer of Precision Life. 

“By understanding why some patients respond well and others do not, we can enable payors to make more informed, sustainable coverage decisions, help pharma bring new products to market, and ultimately deliver better value for patients, providers, and the industry.” 

Bruno Quinney, Content Team, DDW