Governments around the world have focused on issues of sustainability, innovations and priority setting within their health systems. Tension exists between governments' desire to increase biotechnology innovation and the need to address health system sustainability. This commentary will: (1)...

Objectives To describe the process of priority setting for two orphan drugs - Cerezyme and Fabrazyme - in Canada, Australia and Israel, in order to understand and improve the process based on stakeholder perspectives.Methods We conducted qualitative case studies of how three independent drug...

To describe stakeholder involvement in the priority setting and appeals processes across five drug reimbursement recommendation committees.

Since the advent of the Human Genome Project in 1989, the ethical, legal, and social implications inherent in future genetic science and its applications have worried researchers and scholars in law and ethics. Concern that the results of genetic testing might be used to discriminate against...

Arts-based approaches to public engagement offer unique advantages over traditional methods of consultation. Here we describe and assess our use of theatre as a method of public engagement in the development of health policy on preimplantation genetic diagnosis, a controversial method for...

On August 9th, 2001, the federal government of the United States announced a policy restricting federal funds available for research on human embryonic stem cell (hESCs) out of concern for the “vast ethical mine fields” associated with the creation of embryos for research purposes. Until the...

Intellectual property occupies a central position in the biotechnology innovation system, the expected source of new medicines, foods and bio-energy. An international and inter-disciplinary research team has convened for the last seven years in an attempt to better understand the mechanisms of...