title: Pharmacoeconomics: friend or foe?
abstract: The financial constraints faced by most health systems today make it necessary for manufacturers of new, expensive drugs to demonstrate value for money. This paper describes the different types of economic evaluation; the increasing use of these analysis in decision making; their application to new drugs in the field of in rheumatoid arthritis; and the pros and cons of pharmacoeconomics studies from the perspective of the patients, the physicians, and the general population.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Economics, Alcuin "A" Block, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK. md18@york.ac.uk
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Drummond
mesh_terms: D018501:Antirheumatic Agents / Q000191:economics; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000191:economics; D016527:Drug Costs; D017850:Economics, Pharmaceutical; D006801:Humans; D007155:Immunologic Factors / Q000191:economics
chemical_list: D018501:Antirheumatic Agents; D007155:Immunologic Factors