Pharmacoeconomics: from ‘marketing fluff’ to ‘real-world science’

Abstract

Despite the ever-increasing importance of economic issues in the field of healthcare and the boom in the development of this type of research over recent years, many clinical and healthcare policy decision-makers still view pharmacoeconomic studies with suspicion and are confused as to how to apply the results of these studies to the particular circumstances of their health practice or plan. This is especially true of studies that employ pharmacoeconomic models, since these models are perceived as ‘ black boxes ’ that yield different results depending on clever manipulation by experts. At the recent APOR* Lipid Conference [ Florida, US; November 1997 ], leaders in the field discussed various ways to improve the credibility and usefulness of pharmacoeconomic studies to the healthcare industry.