New anticancer drugs in Sweden
(2015) NEKP01 20152Department of Economics
- Abstract
- Previous studies have found that launch prices reflect the therapeutic gains of pharmaceuticals (for instance: Ekelund and Persson, 2003, on Sweden and Lu and Comanor, 1998, on the US). Furthermore, Howard et al (2015) found that purely pharmaceutical costs to “Medicare” at launch for new anticancer drugs increased annually, from 1995-2013, after controlling for health benefits and inflation. This essay investigates the relevance of these claims in the case of Sweden using data on drug approvals into the Swedish pharmaceutical reimbursement system from 2004-2015. The Swedish Dental and Pharmaceutical Benefits Agency (TLV) decide if a pharmaceutical should be included in the Swedish reimbursement system. TLV works with value-based pricing.... (More)
- Previous studies have found that launch prices reflect the therapeutic gains of pharmaceuticals (for instance: Ekelund and Persson, 2003, on Sweden and Lu and Comanor, 1998, on the US). Furthermore, Howard et al (2015) found that purely pharmaceutical costs to “Medicare” at launch for new anticancer drugs increased annually, from 1995-2013, after controlling for health benefits and inflation. This essay investigates the relevance of these claims in the case of Sweden using data on drug approvals into the Swedish pharmaceutical reimbursement system from 2004-2015. The Swedish Dental and Pharmaceutical Benefits Agency (TLV) decide if a pharmaceutical should be included in the Swedish reimbursement system. TLV works with value-based pricing. That is, the expected value of new pharmaceuticals is accounted for when TLV decide if they should be included in the Swedish reimbursement system (cf. Persson et al, 2012). In this essay, 26 new anticancer drugs have been identified. This study examines two core questions. Firstly, is the launch price of new anticancer drugs in Sweden correlated with the effectiveness of the pharmaceuticals? Secondly, can any trends in cost per QALY, QALY-gain and launch prices of new anticancer drugs be found over the study period? In this essay some evidence is found suggesting that the launch price of new anticancer drugs is positively correlated with the effectiveness of the drugs. This suggests that more effective drugs are associated with higher launch prices. No significant evidence is found suggesting a trend in cost of a QALY or QALY-gain. After controlling for effectiveness, no significant trend in launch prices of new anticancer drugs is found (measured as expected price per treatment episode at launch). This essay can serve as an inspiration and background for future health economists aiming at investigating launch prices of new pharmaceuticals and costs associated with the use of new pharmaceuticals. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8085343
- author
- Macheridis, Konstantin LU
- supervisor
-
- Ulf-G Gerdtham LU
- Sofie Persson LU
- organization
- course
- NEKP01 20152
- year
- 2015
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- the Swedish Dental and Pharmaceutical Benefits Agency, Effectiveness, Launch price, Anticancer drugs, Health Economics
- language
- English
- id
- 8085343
- date added to LUP
- 2015-11-05 11:06:34
- date last changed
- 2015-11-05 11:06:34
@misc{8085343,
abstract = {{Previous studies have found that launch prices reflect the therapeutic gains of pharmaceuticals (for instance: Ekelund and Persson, 2003, on Sweden and Lu and Comanor, 1998, on the US). Furthermore, Howard et al (2015) found that purely pharmaceutical costs to “Medicare” at launch for new anticancer drugs increased annually, from 1995-2013, after controlling for health benefits and inflation. This essay investigates the relevance of these claims in the case of Sweden using data on drug approvals into the Swedish pharmaceutical reimbursement system from 2004-2015. The Swedish Dental and Pharmaceutical Benefits Agency (TLV) decide if a pharmaceutical should be included in the Swedish reimbursement system. TLV works with value-based pricing. That is, the expected value of new pharmaceuticals is accounted for when TLV decide if they should be included in the Swedish reimbursement system (cf. Persson et al, 2012). In this essay, 26 new anticancer drugs have been identified. This study examines two core questions. Firstly, is the launch price of new anticancer drugs in Sweden correlated with the effectiveness of the pharmaceuticals? Secondly, can any trends in cost per QALY, QALY-gain and launch prices of new anticancer drugs be found over the study period? In this essay some evidence is found suggesting that the launch price of new anticancer drugs is positively correlated with the effectiveness of the drugs. This suggests that more effective drugs are associated with higher launch prices. No significant evidence is found suggesting a trend in cost of a QALY or QALY-gain. After controlling for effectiveness, no significant trend in launch prices of new anticancer drugs is found (measured as expected price per treatment episode at launch). This essay can serve as an inspiration and background for future health economists aiming at investigating launch prices of new pharmaceuticals and costs associated with the use of new pharmaceuticals.}},
author = {{Macheridis, Konstantin}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{New anticancer drugs in Sweden}},
year = {{2015}},
}