What is the value of medicines ?

Samenvatting

Economic evaluations assessing the value of medicines are regularly published. For readers who are not health economists, it is not easy to understand the specialized jargon used in such economic evaluations and to make up their mind about the value of medicines in their specific decision-making context. The aims of this book are to introduce the reader to the science underlying the economic evaluation of medicines and to present empirical evidence about the value of medicines. This book serves as a resource for readers who want a succinct overview of the methodology and use of economic evaluation of medicines. Particular attention is paid to defi ning the fundamental principles and terms that are relevant to economic evaluation. The book also illustrates the use of economic evaluation in practice ... for decision-making purposes. The use of economic evaluation to quantify the value of medicines fits within an overall trend towards evidence-based decision making in health care. Therefore, this book reports and appraises empirical evidence of the health-economic value of medicines. This theoretical and empirical approach towards assessing the value of medicines is of interest to governments, policy makers, third-party payers, health care professionals, patients and pharmaceutical companies, who need to apply such evidence in their decision-making context. About the author: STEVEN SIMOENS (1974) is a Professor at the Research Centre for Pharmaceutical Care and Pharmaco-economics of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. He is a health economist and leads the Centres research into the economics of medicines, medical devices and related products. His research interests focus on issues surrounding competition and regulation of the pharmaceutical sector. He has worked extensively in the area of pharmaceutical policy in Europe. Steven also carries out economic evaluations of medicines and medical devices. Steven is a member of the General Committee of the Dutch-Flemish Health Economics Association and serves as a member of the Editorial Board of multiple journals. He has previously lived and worked in England, France, Germany and Scotland.