Health Technology Assessment in Pharma

Report Code: PHM233A

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May 2020

How is a medicine priced? Who gets to set that price? With dizzying advances in development of medical technologies (by this BCC means drugs, biologics, devices, equipment, surgeries, public health programs, support systems, and organizational and managerial systems) it stands to reason not everything turns out to be a “hit.” Some treatments turn out to be less effective than thought, perhaps completely ineffective, or priced or administered incorrectly or inappropriately. For example, the cold mathematics show most pharmaceutical research and development results in failure—it’s just how discovery works. Strict monetary demands and resource restraints contribute to difficulties within decision-making when investing in health technology. In order to overcome these challenges, every therapy must be assessed based not only on its clinical effectiveness and safety profile, but also on its possible societal, financial, legal or ethical issues.