The authors make a useful and original contribution to evaluating the impact of strengthened patent protection of pharmaceuticals on Canadian healthcare expenditures. This commentary argues that their second task - measuring the impact of strengthened patent protection on R&D spending in Canada - faces an insurmountable conceptual problem: Corporate decisions on the location of R&D activities b...

OBJECTIVE To examine the effects of antihypertensive step therapy on prescription drug utilization and spending, and other medical care utilization and spending. STUDY DESIGN Pre/post design. METHODS Employers who had implemented step therapy were compared with employers who had not implemented step therapy. Data were drawn from the 2003 through 2006 MarketScan Research Databases. The study...

The authors empirically explore the revenue impact of marketing mix variables and their interactions. The findings include: pharmaceutical direct to consumer advertising (DTC) and detailing (sales force) affect demand synergistically; detailing raises price elasticity; and, detailing has a higher ROI than DTC. Other implications and future research directions are discussed.

continue to challenge the pharmaceutical industry. While pharmaceutical ventures remain productive1, rising expenditures have precipitated an increasing number of mergers and business acquisitions by the larger pharmaceutical companies. The number of such agreements in the pharmaceutical industry increased from 24 in 2003 to 45 in 20042. External factors, including a demanding regulatory enviro...

INTRODUCTION In recent decades, the development of medical and pharmaceutical science has led to a heavy financial burden on the government, insurance companies, and the general population. Due to the increasing the cost of pharmaceutical products in the Kermanshah Province, policy makers have tried to identify the factors that resulted in the increases. The aim of this study was to determine t...

BACKGROUND The burden of out of pocket spending for the Mexican population is high compared to other countries. Even patients insured by social security institutions have to face the cost of health goods, services or nonmedical expenses related to their illness. Primary caregivers, in addition, experience losses in productivity by taking up responsibilities in care giving activities. This situa...

BRIC nations – Brazil, Russia, India, and China – represent 40% of the world’s population, including a growing aging population and middle class with an increasing prevalence of chronic disease. Their healthcare systems increasingly rely on prescription drugs, but they differ from most other healthcare systems because healthcare expenditures in BRIC nations have exhibited the highest revenue gr...

BACKGROUND It is essential to allocate available resources equitably in order to ensure accessibility and affordability of essential medicines, especially in less fortunate nations with limited health funding. Currently, transparent and evidence based research is required to evaluate decision making regarding drug registration, drug pricing and reimbursement processes in Mongolia. OBJECTIVE T...

BACKGROUND Out-of-pocket payments make up about 80% of medical care spending at hospitals in Laos, thereby putting poor households at risk of catastrophic health expenditure. Social security schemes in the form of community-based health insurance and health equity funds have been introduced in some parts of the country. Drug and Therapeutics Committees (DTCs) have been established to ensure rat...

The southern state of Kerala, India was seriously affected by a chikungunya epidemic in 2007. As this outbreak was the first of its kind, the morbidity incurred by the epidemic was a challenge to the state's public health system. A cross sectional survey was conducted in five districts of Kerala that were seriously affected by the epidemic, using a two-stage cluster sampling technique to select...