title: Pharmacoeconomics.
abstract: Pharmacoeconomics is an essential component of health technology assessment and the appraisal of medicines for use by UK National Health Service (NHS) patients. As a comparatively young discipline, its methods continue to evolve. Priority research areas for development include methods for synthesizing indirect comparisons when head-to-head trials have not been performed, synthesizing qualitative evidence (for example, stakeholder views), addressing the limitations of the EQ-5D tool for assessing quality of life, including benefits not captured in quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), ways of assessing valuation methods (for determining utility scores), extrapolation of costs and benefits beyond those observed in trials, early estimation of cost-effectiveness (including mechanism-based economic evaluation), methods for incorporating the impact of non-adherence and the role of behavioural economics in influencing patients and prescribers.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Economics and Medicines Evaluation, Institute of Medical and Social Care Research, Bangor University, Dean Street, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 1UT, UK. d.a.hughes@bangor.ac.uk
authors.forename: Dyfrig A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Hughes
mesh_terms: D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D017850:Economics, Pharmaceutical; D006801:Humans; D010349:Patient Compliance; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000191:economics*; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years; D013222:State Medicine; D006113:United Kingdom
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations