Product Description

The pharmaceutical industry is praised as a leader in high technology innovation and the creator of products that increase both longevity and quality of life for people throughout the world. Yet the industry is also reviled for its marketing and pricing practices and even its research and development priorities. Its competitive nature is undergoing change today, with the entry of new firms and products increasing competition at the same time that mergers reduce it. This book employs the tools of economic analysis to explore the conflicting priorities and aims of the pharmaceutical industry, from both a US and worldwide perspective. Schweitzer discusses the industry both as a manufacturer of products and as a major player in the making of health-care decisions. The author also analyzes the reasons and results of the shift in the locus of demand for pharmaceuticals. Presently the most important factor in formulating the future direction of pharmaceutical research are the demands of the large managed-care organizations rather than individual physicians. HMOs make decisions about product access on behalf of hundreds of thousands of patients. Recent changes in the regulatory environment--including patent law and FDA approval policies--have also influenced the pharmaceutical sector and are therefore investigated in detail. Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy provides an insightful and expert analysis of this complex sector, and suggests appropriate regulatory approaches to assure that both private and public objectives continue to be served. It provides the first comprehensive look at the economics of the pharmaceutical industry in over 25 years. Readable and balanced, it will serve as an authoritative reference source for students and researchers in health services, health administration, health economics and policy, as well as for policy analysts and economists in industry, managed care organizations, and hospitals.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #679294 in Books
• Published on: 1997-06-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Review
"Dr. Schweitzer...has performed a valuable service by writing a broad overview of these topics....The chapter on pharmaceutical regulation and cost containment and the roles of the different players in this area was quite interesting...The chapter devoted solely to patents was also most welcome....Very valuable book. It contains current information, delivered in an evenhanded way, on a wide range of topics. It is a useful overview of an important area of health care."--Mark J. Goldberger, M.D., M.P.H., The New England Journal of Medicine

"Schweitzer's book is a much-needed, ambitious contribution to the field and an important starting point for graduate-level studies....Parmaceutical Economics and Policy is an important, useful contribution to the literature."--American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy

"This book is easy to read and provides an exellent overview of the pharmaceutical industry. The economic framework used to analyze the industry contributes substantially to an understanding of this industry. This book makes a useful contribution to anyone interested in understanding pharmacoeconomic theory and the characteristics of the pharaceutical industry."--Inquiry

"In summary, this book is both an interesting and valuable contribution to the policy discussion involving pharmaceuticals in this country."--Journal of Economic Literature

"...this book is a must-have if you are seriously interested in the domestic and international pharmaceutical industry. Its greatest strength is concise yet comprehensive coverage of many of the important issues relating to the industry."--Journal of Public Health Policy

Book Info
Univ. of California, Los Angeles. Analysis of the pharmaceutical industry with suggestions for regulatory approaches that will serve the industry and its customers.

From the Publisher
21 line illus.

Customer Reviews

Regrettably, out of date...
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...since its publication in 1997, for during the interval we've had (among other developments):

(1) The Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act (FDAMA '97),

(2) The promulgation of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) Code on Interactions with Healthcare Professionals (2002), and

(3) The federal Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) formally weighing in with their final "anti-kickback" guidance from the Office of their Inspector General (OIG), incidentally shutting the door between pharmaceuticals marketing and the drug manufacturers' "support" of continuing medical education (CME) on April 28, 2003.

Things have *changed,* folks. There's eight years' worth of changes that neither the author nor the rest of the industry took into consideration back when the galleys of this book were returned to the publisher. Time for a new edition.
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Un volume complet, bien vulgarisé
Met beaucoup d'emphase sur le point de vue international versus les États-Unis, propos de macro économie biens présentés.

Une seule lacune, les statistiques citées sont déjà bien obsolètes...

most comprehensive book on the Pharmaceutical market
I believe the book is useful for everyone in The Pharmaceutical Industry. It will be useful for reps, higher management, physicians, technicians, scientists, product and regulatory affairs managers and just about anyone who wants to "think outside the box" of their specific role within the industry. Despite its broad range the book is succinct, never vague, and contains a plethora of useful information. I came across this book without never having heard about the author and with the sole purpose of finding specific economic data. I found that and much more. What an astonishing surprise the book was. The book presents the most comprehensive and intelligently condensed information about the overall pharmaceutical market forces, that I saw recently. specific to the industry. For instance, the short Chapter (2) on marketing Pharmaceuticals offers more important data and contextual information than most books entirely dedicated to Pharmaceutical marketing. In a little more than 20 pages the author manages to provide useful information about sales forces management and economic analysis, including joint marketing, along with definitions about all types of promotional materials and relevant organizations for promotion of Pharmaceuticals, including Continuing Medical Education and the FDA's Division of Marketing. In the even shorter chapter on pricing, the author starts by cleverly laying out the fundamentals of supply and demand for Pharmaceuticals and goes on to quantitatively and contextually explain the worldwide differences. Overall the book has information just about any Pharmaceutical market topic; from all of the non-life sciences issues associated with pre-clinical development of drugs to the structure and future trends of the industry. All this information is easy to find because the book is simply organized in internal analysis (the industry) versus external analysis (consumer, market, public and private influential institutions). I'm truly impressed with the depth and range of knowledge displayed in this book, so much so that if I wasn't working for The Pharmaceutical Industry already I would approach Professor Schweitzer for a postdoctoral research.