Pharmacoeconomic Analyses Make Way Into Oncology

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As drug prices soar and drug management budgets decrease, a central question for health care providers is how to make the most of less. And pharmaceutical companies, as well as managed care and government providers, are looking more and more to pharmacoeconomics—the use of economic analysis in health care and drug comparison—to help decide which drugs or treatment options they should pay for.

Although this kind of information is not required by law—the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is concerned with efficacy and with marketing claims, not with which drug is most cost-effective—there is a trend to require pharmacoeconomic analysis, especially in countries with strong socialized medicine systems such as the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia.

Some see its expanded use in the United States. “We’ll see a trend of more and more managed care companies requiring this information, especially in oncology, with its large cost drivers,” said Michael Johnsrud, Ph.D., associate director of the Center for Pharmacoeconomic Studies at the University of Texas, Austin.