Article Text
Pharmacoeconomics and updates on current and imminent therapeutics
Pharmacoeconomics: friend or foe?
Abstract
The financial constraints faced by most health systems today make it necessary for manufacturers of new, expensive drugs to demonstrate value for money. This paper describes the different types of economic evaluation; the increasing use of these analysis in decision making; their application to new drugs in the field of in rheumatoid arthritis; and the pros and cons of pharmacoeconomics studies from the perspective of the patients, the physicians, and the general population.
- CBA, cost-benefit analysis
- CEA, cost-effectiveness analysis
- CUA, cost-utility analysis
- PABC, Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee
- QALY, quality adjusted life year
- TNF, tumour necrosis factor
- pharmacoeconomics
- healthcare resources
- economic evaluation