01.05.2016 | Commentary
Pharmaceutical Price Schemes in Europe: Time for a ‘Continental’ One?
Erschienen in:
PharmacoEconomics
|
Ausgabe 5/2016
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Excerpt
Although a basic concept of economic theory is that the price of a good depends on demand for it, the health sector is an exception and pharmaceutical pricing is a clear example of ‘market failure’, with drugs considered special ‘merit goods’ rather than common ‘consumer goods’ [
1]. From the demand side, patients are not normal consumers; instead, medical doctors decide therapies on their behalf (the so called ‘principal-agent relationship’) and pharmaceutical expenses are mostly funded by ‘third-party payers’ throughout the world [
2]. …