ABSTRACT
Pharmacoeconomics is the field of study that evaluates the behavior or welfare of individuals, firms, and markets relevant to the use of pharmaceutical products, services, and programs.1 The focus is frequently on the cost (inputs) and consequences (outcomes) of that use. Of necessity, it addresses the clinical, economic, and humanistic aspect of health care interventions (often diagrammed as the ECHO Model,
1.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................1 1.2 Analytical Perspectives.....................................................................................3 1.3 Code of Ethics ..................................................................................................3 1.4 Overview of Economic Evaluation Methods ....................................................4 1.5 Quality of Life and Patient Preferences ............................................................4 1.6 Decision Analysis and Modeling ......................................................................7 1.7 Ranking Priorities: Developing a Formulary List ............................................7 1.8 Incremental Analysis and Quadrants ...............................................................8 1.9 Fourth Hurdle and Drug Approvals ................................................................ 10 1.10 From Board Room to Bedside ........................................................................ 11 1.11 Conclusions ..................................................................................................... 14 References ................................................................................................................ 15
Figure 1.1)2 in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and management of disease. Pharmacoeconomics is a collection of descriptive and analytic techniques for evaluating pharmaceutical interventions, spanning individual patients to the health care system as a whole. Pharmacoeconomic techniques include cost-minimization, costeffectiveness, cost-utility, cost-benefit, cost of illness, cost-consequence, and any other economic analytic technique that provides valuable information to health care decision makers for the allocation of scarce resources. Pharmacoeconomics is often referred to as “health economics” or “health outcomes research,” especially when it includes comparison with non-pharmaceutical therapy or preventive strategies such as surgical interventions, medical devices, or screening techniques.
