Pharmacoeconomics: Economic Evaluation of Pharmaceuticals
Ongoing concerns about the costs of medical care have led both purchasers and producers of pharmaceuticals to realize that the cost of drugs is not limited to their purchase price. Accompanying costs of preparation, administration, monitoring for and treating side effects, and the economic consequences of successful treatment are all influenced by the clinical and pharmacologic properties of pharmaceutical products. Thus, in addition to differences in efficacy and safety, differences in efficiency (or the effectiveness of the therapy in clinical practice compared with its cost) distinguish drugs from one another. In this chapter, the authors discuss the importance of applying economic concepts to the study of pharmaceuticals, introduce clinical economics and the application of these concepts to pharmaceutical research, review methodologic issues addressed by investigators conducting pharmacoeconomic studies, and offer examples of pharmacoeconomic research. © 2012 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.
