Although economic theory indicates that it should not be necessary to intervene in the generic drug market through price regulation, most EU countries intervene in this market, both by regulating the maximum sale price of generics (price cap) and by setting the maximum reimbursement rate,...

Cost-of-illness (COI) studies seemingly provide a solid foundation for quantifying the potential benefits of illicit drug policy interventions that reduce drug use at the population level. However, their usefulness is severely limited. In this paper, we suggest several improvements to substance...

The EU expanded in 2004 to include eight transition countries, i.e. Central and Eastern European (CEE) and newly independent states of the former Soviet Union, and two other CEE countries are scheduled to join the EU in 2007. Each of these countries has undertaken substantial healthcare reform...

This article evaluates three measures introduced by the Australian Federal Government in 1999 and 2000 that were designed to encourage private health insurance and relieve financial pressure on the public healthcare sector. These policy changes were (i) a 30% premium rebate, (ii) health insurers...

Pharmaceutical policy in Italy has been reshaped as a result of the 1993-4 crisis in which it was revealed that pharmaceutical companies, policy makers and top Department of Health officers had constructed an illegal system to set prices. Following this crisis, the rise of technical competency...

An orphan disease is a disease with a very low prevalence. Although there are 5000-7000 orphan diseases, only 50 orphan drugs (i.e. drugs developed to treat orphan diseases) were marketed in the EU by the end of 2008. In 2000, the EU implemented policies specifically designed to stimulate the...

Background: One of the greatest difficulties in evaluating healthcare system reform in any country is that governments often do not clearly articulate what it is they are attempting to do. In Australia, a recent inquiry set out 15 principles to guide the reform process, but it remains unclear...

Spurred by a desire to improve quality of care and to understand the relative value of medical treatments, there has been a recent surge of interest in publicly funded comparative effectiveness research (CER) in the US. As health technology assessment (HTA) shares some of the same goals as CER,...

Comparative effectiveness research (CER) can provide valuable information for patients, providers and payers. These stakeholders differ in their incentives to invest in CER. To maximize benefits from public investments in CER, it is important to understand the value of CER from the perspectives...