This report reviews the important role of medicines in health sytems, describes recent trends in pharmaceutical expenditure and financing, and summarises the approaches used by OECD countries to determine coverage and pricing.

This report reviews the important role of medicines in health sytems, describes recent trends in pharmaceutical expenditure and financing, and summarises the approaches used by OECD countries to determine coverage and pricing.

This study has emerged from an ongoing program of trilateral cooperation between WHO, WTO and WIPO. It responds to an increasing demand, particularly in developing countries, for strengthened capacity for informed policy-making in areas of intersection between health, trade and IP, focusing on access to and innovation of medicines and other medical technologies.

Americans praise medical technology for saving lives and improving health. Yet, new technology is often cited as a key factor in skyrocketing medical costs. This volume, second in the Medical Innovation at the Crossroads series, examines how economic incentives for innovation are changing and what that means for the future of health care. Up-to-date with a wide variety of examples and case studies, this book explores how payment, patent, and regulatory policiesâ€"as well as the involvement of numerous government agenciesâ€"affect the introduction and use of new pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and surgical procedures. The volume also includes detailed comparisons of policies and patterns of technological innovation in Western Europe and Japan. This fact-filled and practical book will be of interest to economists, policymakers, health administrators, health care practitioners, and the concerned public.

Documents how science has provided an astonishing array of medicines for coping with human ailments. This volume addresses industry leaders, economic influences, and the development of individual products. It is suitable for policy makers, economists, corporate executives, research managers, and historians of science, technology, and medicine.

To explore the role of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in innovative drug development and its impact on patient access, the Board on Health Care Services and the Board on Health Sciences Policy of the National Academies jointly hosted a public workshop on July 24â€"25, 2019, in Washington, DC. Workshop speakers and participants discussed the ways in which federal investments in biomedical research are translated into innovative therapies and considered approaches to ensure that the public has affordable access to the resulting new drugs. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

The development of new medications and improvements thereof are crucial to ensure continued gains in health. The development process is long and costly, and mainly to produce the information to meet high regulatory requirements. In contrast, imitation involves negligible costs and much reduced risks. This is one of the reasons the pharmaceutical industry depends greatly on patent protection. Despite the existing patent system, however, the number of new medications per year has decreased, especially during the last decade. In comparison, the number of second generation patents and products has been drastically increased. This industry is accused both of neglecting its real mission of providing new medications while generating second generation products, and of preventing the entry of generics. The dissertation reviewed whether the concerns are justified, and, if so, whether or how the patent system can improve the situation that confronts pharmaceutical companies and society.