Health Strategies Group has brought on Anita Burrell as VP and head of its global market access practice.
Burrell started at Health Strategies Group this month, reporting to CEO Rod Cavin. She is also leading its global access insights and spearheading the firm’s expansion into international markets.
“[Health Strategies Group] originally had somebody to help coordinate international work, but nobody who represented international work,” Burrell said. “When they wanted to move forward with this position, they wanted to have somebody who is face of work internationally.”
Europe is the first region Burrell has set her sights on. However, the constantly changing political environment, both in the U.S., where she’s based, and abroad can make the market access field challenging.
“As a practice, it is quite complicated because there are all sorts of stakeholders who have some type of influence on the patient being able to access that therapy,” she explained. “In the U.S., for example, there’s the physician involved to decide whether the patient gets the therapy, the health plan, and the PBMs.”
Health Strategies Group provides market access and market research services to pharma clients. The firm is based in Yardley, Pennsylvania.
Although there are many proposed market changes in the U.S., like reforming the rebate system, changing how Medicare negotiates drug coverage, or private companies launching their own drug development, there are just as many happening globally, Burrell added.
For instance, Brexit is affecting how drugs will get to patients in the U.K., and the European Union is considering adopting a common clinical assessment for every member country.
“There are lots of megatrends like that in all the countries all over the world,” Burrell said. “The art of market access is getting into the stakeholders’ shoes and finding what is it that would make [this therapy] worthwhile to you.”
Before joining Health Strategies Group, Burrell ran her own consultancy and taught at Rutgers University. She also spent a total of 14 years over two stints at Sanofi, holding roles including U.K. head of health economics, head of health economics and reimbursement, and head of commercial operations effectiveness for its global diabetes portfolio.
She has also led Genzyme’s multiple sclerosis unit, served as manager of health economics at Boehringer Ingelheim, and held other health economics positions.
