In recent years, high prices of pharmaceutical products have posed challenges in high- and low-income countries alike. In many instances, high prices of pharmaceutical products have led to significant financial hardship for individuals and negatively impacted on healthcare systems' ability to provide population-wide access to essential medicines. Pharmaceutical pricing policies need to be carefully planned, carried out, and regularly checked and revised according to changing conditions. Strong, well-thought-out policies can guide well-informed and balanced decisions to achieve affordable access to essential health products. This guideline replaces the 2015 WHO guideline on country pharmaceutical pricing policies, revised to reflect the growing body of literature since the last evidence review in 2010. This update also recognizes country experiences in managing the prices of pharmaceutical products.

This book provides an overview of the global pharmaceutical pricing policies. Medicines use is increasing globally with the increase in resistant microbes, emergence of new treatments, and because of awareness among consumers. This has resulted in increased drug expenditures globally. As the pharmaceutical market is expanding, a variety of pharmaceutical pricing strategies and policies have been employed by drug companies, state organizations and pharmaceutical pricing authorities.

Thanks to remarkable advances in modern health care attributable to science, engineering, and medicine, it is now possible to cure or manage illnesses that were long deemed untreatable. At the same time, however, the United States is facing the vexing challenge of a seemingly uncontrolled rise in the cost of health care. Total medical expenditures are rapidly approaching 20 percent of the gross domestic product and are crowding out other priorities of national importance. The use of increasingly expensive prescription drugs is a significant part of this problem, making the cost of biopharmaceuticals a serious national concern with broad political implications. Especially with the highly visible and very large price increases for prescription drugs that have occurred in recent years, finding a way to make prescription medicinesâ€"and health care at largeâ€"more affordable for everyone has become a socioeconomic imperative. Affordability is a complex function of factors, including not just the prices of the drugs themselves, but also the details of an individual's insurance coverage and the number of medical conditions that an individual or family confronts. Therefore, any solution to the affordability issue will require considering all of these factors together. The current high and increasing costs of prescription drugsâ€"coupled with the broader trends in overall health care costsâ€"is unsustainable to society as a whole. Making Medicines Affordable examines patient access to affordable and effective therapies, with emphasis on drug pricing, inflation in the cost of drugs, and insurance design. This report explores structural and policy factors influencing drug pricing, drug access programs, the emerging role of comparative effectiveness assessments in payment policies, changing finances of medical practice with regard to drug costs and reimbursement, and measures to prevent drug shortages and foster continued innovation in drug development. It makes recommendations for policy actions that could address drug price trends, improve patient access to affordable and effective treatments, and encourage innovations that address significant needs in health care.

Medicine Price Surveys, Analyses and Comparisons establishes guidelines for the study and implementation of pharmaceutical price surveys, analyses, and comparisons. Its contributors evaluate price survey literature, discuss the accessibility and reliability of data sources, and provide a checklist and training kit on conducting price surveys, analyses, and comparisons. Their investigations survey price studies while accounting for the effects of methodologies and explaining regional differences in medicine prices. They also consider policy objectives such as affordable access to medicines and cost-containment as well as options for improving the effectiveness of policies. - Provides guidance for planning and implementing pharmaceutical pricing policies and systems - Reviews external price referencing systems - Explains common baselines for interpreting price surveys - Defines pharmaceutical price terminology and nomenclature

This report assesses how pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement policies have contributed to the achievement of certain health policy objectives, and it examines the national and transnational effects of these policies.

Market access is the fourth hurdle in the drug development process and the primary driver for global income of any new drug. Without a strategy in place for pricing, showing value for effectiveness and an understanding of the target purchasers’ needs, the drug will fail to reach its intended market value. Introduction to Market Access for Pharmaceuticals is based on an accredited course in this area, taken from the European Market Access University Diploma (EMAUD), and is affiliated with Aix Marseille University. Key Features: The first guide to market access for pharmaceuticals based on tested teaching materials Addresses both pharmaceutical and vaccine products Includes case studies and scenarios Covers market access consdierations for Western Europe, the USA, Japan and China Explains the impact the changing healthcare market will have on your product