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Coeus Consulting Group Continues Its Expansion: Hires Two Key Executives to Deepen Service Offerings and Expertise Around Value-Based ContractingCoeus Consulting Group, a leading boutique life science consulting firm, today announced it has deepened its current offerings for the company's pharma/biotech and payor clients in the areas of strategy, payor and PBM engagement, channel management and value-based pharmaceutical contracting. Industry experts Jim Clement and Harry Vargo have joined the team to help build out and manage the company's enhanced market access offerings. Both Clement and Vargo come to Coeus from Aetna, Inc. where they led the insurance provider's efforts in establishing its value-based contracting initiative with pharmaceutical and biotech organizations. Over the years, both have worked with dozens of manufacturers to expand access to emerging therapeutics while minimizing the financial impact of treatment failure. Drug pricing remains at the forefront of the debate around maintaining a sustainable healthcare system in the United States. Patients and employers want continued access to innovative medicines while also being able to control the increasing costs in premiums and out-of-pocket expenses. A value-based approach establishes clear, measured criteria that enables both manufacturers and insurers to only pay for medicines that show a sustained effect thereby limiting the financial exposure. "Jim and Harry are well-known in the industry for their innovative and unique approaches to payer strategies and contracting, and their type of vision is required in the ever-changing market we have today," said Marc Hison, CEO of Coeus. "As new disease modifying therapeutics and gene therapies come to market, the healthcare system will need to build and optimize new payment models to ensure patients have access to life-saving medicines while minimizing the overall financial burden. Utilizing Harry and Jim's expertise, our clients who are both developing and paying for these therapies will be able to clearly measure success -demonstrating both the therapeutic benefit and the financial value of the medicine." Jim Clement, a former Aetna executive, most recently served as Executive Director, Value Based Care and Supply Chain Strategy where he focused largely on proving the value of pharmaceutical therapies. In that role, he was responsible for transforming the financing of the pharmacy benefit and leading Aetna's enterprise relationships with pharmaceutical manufacturers. Mr. Clement maintained administrative oversight for pharmacy benefit strategy, actuarial services, network administration, client pricing, analytics, and vendor management in addition to innovative contracting models that help drive value-based care. He also served as a board member for sPCMA, collaborated with the Bipartisan Policy Center on innovative and value-based market access approaches for gene therapies, and served as an advisor to the Network for Excellence in Health Innovation (NEHI) on the publication of "Value-Based Contracting for Oncology Drugs." Prior to joining Coeus, Harry Vargo has served as a Director at Aetna for more than 14 years. As the Director of Value Based Contracting and Manufacturer Trade Relations, Vargo's primary responsibility was to negotiate and execute rebate agreements with pharmaceutical manufacturers in support of their Commercial and Medicare drug formularies. In addition, Mr. Vargo focused on developing short- and long-term formulary strategies in concert with key market events to drive innovation at Aetna. About Coeus Consulting Group Founded in 2009, Coeus Consulting Group is a boutique life science strategy consulting firm supporting pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, and payors in the U.S. The company creates tailored, evidence-based solutions that drive business strategy and impacts bottom lines. To learn more about Coeus and the company's offerings, visit www.coeusconsultinggroup.com.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190108005943/en/ |
