60 seconds with Eleanor Butler, Consultant

Q: What is your role at Lightning Health

A: I provide strategic advice to clients regarding global pricing and market access strategies to support their commercial plans. I also help companies to gain on- demand payer and physician insights using the Lightning Health Accelerated Payer and Physician Insight Platform. My current focus is on Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs) and the complex challenges they present to the current global payer infrastructure.

Q: Tell us more about the work you are doing on ATMPs?

A: ATMPs are a transformative class of medicines including cell therapies, gene therapies and tissue engineered products. These therapies are potentially curative in many cases and offer substantial long-term value to both the patient and the payer if they can be introduced to the current reimbursement systems with minimal disruption. However, current funding systems based on chronic treatment regimens are not appropriate for these high-cost treatments that may only require a single administration.

Pharmaceutical companies and key stakeholders must work together to reduce barriers to the implementation of these therapies including; mitigating uncertainty over high upfront cost, long-term evidence requirements, economic viability and concern among manufacturers that innovation will not be valued sufficiently.

At Lightning Health, we are currently working with European and US payers to understand how payer archetypes and funding models can intersect to allow access to these life-changing therapies.

Q: Tell us about you?

A: My background is in Pharmacology and Health Management. This has led me to work within Market Access focussing on patient access to medicines. I have gained a broad range of experience through positions within a pricing and market access agency and with the NHS, developing out-comes based strategic work initiatives and conducting change management projects. This has given me a passion for research and strategic thinking to address complex challenges in the healthcare industry.

In particular I am interested in the launch strategies for emerging markets and cell and gene therapies. Two areas I believe to be key to the future of the industry.

Outside of work I’m likely to be exploring the local countryside and southern coastal region or planning my next diving trip to explore some of the world’s reefs (Isla del Cocos National Park in Costa Rica is next!)

Article published 12 June 2020.