Insights

Warranties could smooth path for gene therapies, other high-priced medicines

Octaviant partnering with Marsh to offer transferrable warranties

Gene therapies and other expensive medicines should come with warranties that provide compensation, including for patients’ out-of-pocket costs, if they don’t perform as anticipated. That’s the idea behind a line of business that Octaviant Financial, a financial services company, and Marsh, a multinational insurance brokerage, launched this week.

Use warranties, not outcomes-based agreements, to make payers whole when a gene therapy fails

A decade ago, I had pegged gene and cell therapies as the next frontier. As an investment banker, I was sure they would someday change how patients were treated. But a question from a biotech CEO started me thinking about not only how to pay for them, but how to offer guarantees for these therapies to payers who rightfully wanted reassurances that they were paying for something that works for their beneficiaries.