New pharmaceutical contract to save WA Health millions
The HSS Procurement and Supply team has successfully negotiated a new pharmaceutical contract for a drug used to treat iron overload in blood transfusion patients, which is estimated will reduce costs of up to $2 million for the WA health system over the next two years.
Deferasirox, which recently came off-patent, meant generic versions of the drug was able to be considered for inclusion in a whole-of-Health pharmaceutical products contract available to Health Service Providers (HSPs).
According to HSS Acting Senior Category Specialist Procurement and Supply, Qais Dost, 12 public hospitals currently use the drug, amounting to WA Health expenditure of around $2.2 million over the next two years.
“The brand name drug had the market monopoly when it was subject to patent restrictions, so there was no opportunity for negotiation on price,” Qais said.
“Around six months prior to the patent on Deferasirox expiring, we were contacted by a number of potential suppliers who were interested in listing their generic versions of the drug onto the whole-of-Health pharmaceutical products contract which list the drugs and suppliers available for purchase by WA hospitals.”
Nine responses from potential suppliers were received and evaluated by a Client Reference Group (CRG) made up of chief and senior pharmacy representatives from HSPs, HSS and the Department of Finance.
Each product presentation was analysed and evaluated against the required product specifications associated with medication safety including the artwork and dimensions of the packaging as well as the colour of the drug.
Five responses were clinically approved by the CRG resulting in the award of successful tenders. The whole process took approximately seven weeks to complete.
“The generic options for Deferasirox cost up to 93 per cent less and their inclusion on the whole-of-Health pharmaceutical products contract will potentially reduce costs for our customers of close to $2 million over the next two years or the remainder of the contract term,” Qais said.
“I would to thank the CRG members for their time in assisting us with the contract refresh process, and the HSS Data Analytics team who spent a considerable amount of time in developing the Power BI dashboards that provided valuable expenditure and usage information.”
Mark Thompson, HSS Chief Procurement Officer said that reducing costs for customers, whilst maintaining quality and service, contributes to HSS’ strategy objective of sustainability.
“This in turn provides our customers with the opportunity to reinvest in their operations to provide excellent health care,” he added.