| Background. Historically, the analysis of health care purchase decisions included price-testing techniques as applied to the market of consumer goods. However, in view of the escalating public and private medical expenditure on a worldwide basis, the role of the payer for health care, i.e. the government, private insurers, and health maintenance organizations, is increasing and competitive pressures on drug prices are making the introduction of new drugs at adequate remuneration more difficult. To compete effectively in the 21st century marketplace, pharmaceutical companies need more than just bring new, innovative medicines to the market—they need new medicines that are more cost-effective in comparison to current forms of treatment. In this dissertation, we develop a model for value-based pricing of pharmaceutical innovations and illustrate its applicability to hepatitis B vaccination.;Objective. To develop a pricing model that captures and quantifies the differential costs and benefits accrued over time of innovative pharmaceutical products to support applications for reimbursement or funding in an increasingly regulated health care market.;Methods. Success of socioeconomic evidence development depends largely on the application of adequate standards and the selection of the right evaluation tools. The study describes various value-assessment techniques (cost benefit analysis, cost-utility analysis, and cost-effectiveness analysis) and applies advanced cost-effectiveness analysis to newly developed hepatitis B vaccines—including Markov ‘health state’ Modeling, Delphi Expert Data Collection and Consensus, and Monte Carlo vs. Standard One/Two-way (price) Sensitivity Analysis. Multi-country field research was conducted in areas of intermediate to high endemicity for hepatitis B—a viral disease affecting 2 billion people in the world of which 400 million are chronically infected which often leads to cirrhosis and/or liver cancer.;Conclusions. Value-based pricing of innovations based on cost-effectiveness analysis, incorporating Markov decision analysis and Delphi expert panels, is the most appropriate technique to formulating a rational strategy for prescription drug pricing. Failure to capture the ‘full’ value of pharmaceutical innovations would result in lower profit margins. Conversely, if companies can demonstrate the competitive advantage of innovations based on cost-effectiveness, a premium price can be obtained from reimbursement, formulary, and procurement agencies. |
