Pay for performance

As drugs such as targeted cancer therapies have become increasingly expensive, the reflexive reaction of some payers is to just say no. One solution for companies would be to lower prices to the point where payers wouldn't push back. A more novel idea is for companies to get paid only for those patients helped by their drugs.

The U.K.'s National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence and Janssen-Cilag Ltd. are discussing just such a proposal for multiple myeloma drug Velcade bortezomib. The question is whether they can agree on terms...