The Framework, Making Solutions Transactable for Combination Treatments in a Not Cost-Effective at Zero Price Scenario, is a combination of two of Takeda’s 2021 whitepapers that looked at Attribution of Value and Arbitration Frameworks, calling for improved collaboration to increase patient access to combination therapies. The whitepapers were developed in partnership with academics, clinicians and patient communities, and supported by advice from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the NHS.

The Conceptual Implementation Framework ‘provides a starting point for NHS England, NICE and manufacturers to discuss and evolve existing processes and methodologies to ensure consistent patient access to combination treatments, now and in the future’, according to the press release.

Combination therapies combine two or more individual treatments; usually a ‘backbone’ treatment, often the current standard of care, with a new ‘add-on’ treatment. Their use is becoming increasingly popular, particularly in disease indications such as oncology, HIV and Hepatitis C.

Şeyda Atadan Memiş, general manager at Takeda UK & Ireland, noted that: “Takeda is committed to bringing stakeholders together in the combination treatment landscape and ultimately increasing critical access for patients. The progress that has been made in recent years is positive, but more must be done to implement workable solutions so patients can access and benefit from combination treatments. This drive aligns with the government’s life sciences ambition to grow the sector and transform the NHS into a service that delivers world-class patient outcomes.”