title: [Economic sustainability of therapies: considerations following the introduction of new drugs for hepatitis C virus].
abstract: The availability of new drugs potentially able to drastically reduce the burden of very common infectious diseases like hepatitis C requires the national health services to take a different decision-making process. On the one hand, there is an evident financial issue; on the other hand, low budgets may undermine a system that provides universal access to healthcare. It is unrealistic to expect retrieving the financial resources needed from negotiating prices with pharmaceutical companies, resource reallocation or a reduction in economic waste. The national health systems need a new priority setting and a National fund for healthcare innovation should be built. Novel drugs should be evaluated balancing availability and opportunity, forcing to rethink the decision-making processes. Macro- (re-prioritization of interventions) and micro-policies (the introduction of financial aspects in the process of pricing) are needed, trying to combine welfare and industrial policies.
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Spandonaro
mesh_terms: D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000191:economics* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002017:Budgets; D003657:Decision Making; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000191:economics; D016527:Drug Costs; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000191:economics; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000191:economics
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents