Abstract:

There is growing clamour of late that the evaluation of new pharmaceuticals should not only contain analysis of safety and efficacy, but also elements of economic analysis. The reason: the quality of present-day background material is such that it does not permit thorough-going assessment of the impact that a new drug has on the economy. A splendid opportunity to subject a new pharmaceutical to an economic evaluation will arise when the pharmaceutical undergoes clinical trial; this will be especially true of phase-3 trials. The main problem posed by many economic analyses is precisely the lack of data that can be used for prospective purposes.