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The Elasticity of Demand and Supply in the Philippine Pharmaceutical Industry: Implications for Pricing and Access
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This systematic review explored the multifaceted impact of drug price regulation on patient access to essential medicines. Recognizing the complexity of this relationship, the paper investigates the influence of various types of drug price regulation mechanisms, the disparities across different geographical regions and health‑care systems, and the differential effects between branded and generic drugs. Our findings illustrate that the effects of drug price regulation are not universally uniform or predictable, but rather, they are highly context dependent. Direct price control measures can, on the one hand, improve accessibility through affordability; yet on the other hand, potentially disrupt drug supply. Indirect price control methods, such as reference pricing and value‑based pricing, while designed to spur competition, can be hampered by administrative complexities and potentially stifle pharmaceutical innovation. Despite the pervasive use of drug price regulation, access to essential medicines remains disparate and inequitable, indicating a need for a comprehensive approach that includes health system reforms, improved health literacy, and greater collaboration between stakeholders. Future research should further investigate the enduring disparities in patient access to medicines, the long‑term effects of various pricing mechanisms, and their interplay with the evolving pharmaceutical industry and health‑care landscapes.
This study examines the relationship between the entry of generic drugs, branded generic drugs and branded non-originator drugs, and whether their entry significantly reduced the price of prescription drugs in the market. Quarterly panel data from IQVIA for the anti-diabetes, anti-infectives, cholesterol, and hypertension therapeutic classes from 2000 to 2020 were used to conduct a panel data analysis. The outcomes of this research may inform regulatory policies in the pharmaceutical sector to ensure that prescription drugs are available and accessible to the public.
In this essay about international drug pricing in the global pharmaceutical market, we focus on the issue of access to medicine in developing countries. Acknowledging the essential trade-off between equity and efficiency that characterizes international drug pricing, we provide a perspective on the panorama of drug pricing and patenting policies. These policies are designed to optimize both supply and access to drugs. We examine their respective rationales, consequences and limitations. In a context of increasingly intense market interactions between developed and developing countries, the common challenge for these regulations is to safeguard incentives for the research and development industry, while accounting for lower purchasing power in developing countries.
Background:
Developing countries, such as the Philippines, started implementing policies to improve access to medicines, which is a vital step toward universal healthcare coverage. This study aimed to evaluate the prices, availability and affordability of prescribed medicines for diabetes, hypercholesterolemia and hypertension with the exemption of 12% value-added tax in the Philippines.
Methods:
The prices and availability of 50 medicines were collected in August 2019 from 36 public and 42 private medicine outlets in six regions of the Philippines, following a modified methodology developed by the World Health Organization and Health Action International. Availability is reported as the percentage of outlets in which the surveyed medicine was found at the time of visit. Medicine prices are expressed as median unit prices (MUPs) in Philippine Peso. Affordability is calculated based on the number of days' wages required for the lowest-paid unskilled government worker to purchase a monthly treatment.
Results:
The mean availability of surveyed medicines was low in both public and private sectors, with 1.3% for originator brands (OBs) and 25.0% for lowest-priced generics (LPGs) in public outlets, and 34.7% and 35.4% in private outlets, respectively. The MUP of medicines were higher in private outlets, and OBs have higher unit price compared to the generic equivalents. Treatments with OBs were unaffordable, except for gliclazide, but the affordability of most LPGs is generally good.
Conclusion:
Access to medicines in both sectors was affected by low availability. High prices of OBs influenced the affordability of medicines even with tax exemption. A review of policies and regulations should be initiated for a better access to medicines in the Philippines.
It is unknown to what extent rising drug costs are due to inflation in the prices of existing drugs versus the entry of new products. We used pricing data from First Databank and pharmacy claims from UPMC Health Plan to quantify the contribution of new versus existing drugs to the changes in costs of oral and injectable drugs used in the outpatient setting in 2008-16. The costs of oral and injectable brand-name drugs increased annually by 9.2 percent and 15.1 percent, respectively, largely driven by existing drugs. For oral and injectable specialty drugs, costs increased 20.6 percent and 12.5 percent, respectively, with 71.1 percent and 52.4 percent of these increases attributable to new drugs. Costs of oral and injectable generics increased by 4.4 percent and 7.3 percent, respectively, driven by new drug entry. The rising costs of generic and specialty drugs were mostly driven by new product entry, whereas the rising costs of brand-name drugs were due to existing drug price inflation. ©2019 Project HOPE-The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.
Pharmaceutical expenditure is rising globally. Most high-income countries have exercised pricing or purchasing strategies to address this pressure. Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), however, usually have less regulated pharmaceutical markets and often lack feasible pricing or purchasing strategies, notwithstanding their wish to effectively manage medicine budgets. In high-income countries, most medicines payments are made by the state or health insurance institutions. In LMICs, most pharmaceutical expenditure is out-of-pocket which creates a different dynamic for policy enforcement. The paucity of rigorous studies on the effectiveness of pharmaceutical pricing and purchasing strategies makes it especially difficult for policy makers in LMICs to decide on a course of action. This article reviews published articles on pharmaceutical pricing and purchasing policies. Many policy options for medicine pricing and purchasing have been found to work but they also have attendant risks. No one option is decisively preferred; rather a mix of options may be required based on country-specific context. Empirical studies in LMICs are lacking. However, risks from any one policy option can reasonably be argued to be greater in LMICs which often lack strong legal systems, purchasing and state institutions to underpin the healthcare system. Key factors are identified to assist LMICs improve their medicine pricing and purchasing systems.
Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of London, 1995.
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The Elasticity of Demand and Supply in the Philippine Pharmaceutical Industry: Implications for Pricing and Access
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