Pharmaceutical & Health

Pharmaceutical & Health

Pharmaceuticals have contributed to improvements in life expectancy and quality of life of many patients. Medicines can cure, relieve symptoms, delay the onset of disease and prevent complications. They often offer good value for money. However, recent trends raise a number of concerns. The launch prices of new drugs have been increasing in some therapeutic categories, sometimes without commensurate health gains. At the same time, new effective medicines are not always affordable to all patients who need them and put a high pressure on healthcare budgets. These trends raise questions about incentives at work in the pharmaceutical sector and the sustainability of current pricing models.

This project, conducted between 2016 and 2018 assesses current challenges in pharmaceutical markets, based on the best available evidence; looks at pharmaceutical industries' activities and performance and proposes a set of policy options for policy makers to consider to address current challenges