pharmacoeconomic

Pharmacoeconomics is a subfield of health economics that analyzes the value of pharmaceutical products and services by comparing their costs and health outcomes. It seeks to inform decisions about the allocation of limited healthcare resources and to support evidence-based policy, pricing, and access to medicines.

Economic evaluation in pharmacoeconomics includes several approaches. Cost-minimization analysis is used when outcomes are assumed to be equivalent. Cost-effectiveness analysis compares costs to natural health outcomes, such as life-years gained. Cost-utility analysis uses utility-based measures, typically quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), to capture both quantity and quality of life. Cost-benefit analysis converts outcomes into monetary terms to produce a net value. Analyses can be conducted from different perspectives, commonly societal or payer, but also patient or healthcare system perspectives.

Key inputs are costs (drug acquisition, administration, monitoring), resource use, and outcomes (clinical results and patient-reported effects). The primary result is the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER), the additional cost per unit of effect, with cost-utility analysis often reporting cost per QALY gained.

Methods frequently involve decision-analytic modeling (decision trees and Markov models), systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and budget impact analyses. Pharmacoeconomics supports formulary decisions, reimbursement, pricing, and guideline development, while facing challenges such as data quality, transferability across settings, uncertainty, and ethical considerations in valuing health benefits.

Overall, pharmacoeconomics provides a structured framework to assess the economic value of pharmaceutical interventions and to guide efficient resource use in health care.