Technology transfer in prescription drug market

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 495-518
Author(s):  
Xing Li ◽  
Minyue Jin

Purpose Many people in developing countries are suffering from serious diseases, such as HIV and tuberculosis. On the other hand, drug patents impact the availability of the drug for patients. Pharmaceutical technology transfer is widely used by domestic and foreign pharmaceutical enterprises because it promotes the availability of the drug for patients. The purpose of this paper, which is on drug technology transfer, is mainly to discuss how to solve the conflict between drug patent protection and public health from the perspective of the law, but not from the perspective of economics. To fill this gap, the authors introduce a model in the prescription drug market and analyze how a foreign manufacturer that produces brand name drugs authorizes a domestic enterprise that produces common drugs. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the authors consider a situation that if the patent holders are provided a certain amount of compensation, then whether compulsory licensing would be an effective tool to promote competition and improve the availability of drugs. Furthermore, they also consider three different cooperation mechanisms, namely, fixed-fee contract, royalty contract and two-part tariff contract, under the case of technology transfer and give the condition of which contract would be better under different scenarios. Findings It is found that the product differentiation and the agent behavior of doctor in the domestic market have a deep impact on the foreign enterprise’s decision on technology transfer. If both fixed-fee contract and royalty contract are permitted, foreign enterprise will choose different transfer contracts under different conditions. Under two-part tariff contract, it is equivalent to a fixed-fee or royalty contract under certain conditions. Furthermore, all contracts can improve patients’ benefits, while the royalty contract and the two-part tariff contract would reduce importer’s social welfare under certain conditions. Originality/value Prescription drugs can treat many acute diseases and improve people’s quality of life. On the other hand, it requires investment in pharmaceutical research and development and is hard to afford the drug for the people living in poverty. This paper tries to solve the problem by introducing three cooperation contracts. The authors consider an innovative drug company and a regular drug company. The regular drug company can improve the quality of its drug by signing a technology transfer agreement with the innovative company. Three contracts are discussed in this paper; they are fixed-fee contract, royalty contract and two-part tariff contract. The authors examine the impact of different contracts on the companies’ profit, patients’ benefit and social welfare. It is found that quality differentiation of drugs and doctor behaviors can have large impacts on the company’s decision about technology adoption as well as contract choice strategies. In all of the three contracts, patients’ benefit improves, while the profit of the two companies and social welfare can increase or decrease under different contracts.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rena Conti ◽  
Brigham Frandsen ◽  
Michael Powell ◽  
James Rebitzer

2021 ◽  
pp. 14-37
Author(s):  
Neumann Peter J. ◽  
Cohen Joshua T. ◽  
Ollendorf Daniel A

This chapter describes how prescription drug markets deviate from “normal” competitive markets. On the demand side, there is considerable uncertainty in disease prognosis and treatment effects; buyers have much less information than sellers; consumers usually do not pay directly for their prescriptions but rather have health insurance, which protects them from a drug’s full price; and physicians and insurers play a major role in consumer choices. On the supply side, firms are heavily regulated, subject to laws requiring that drugs undergo extensive testing before entering the marketplace. Monopolies are a system feature, designed to incentivize companies to invest in expensive and risky drug discovery by providing the prospect of a big payoff if the investment succeeds. Patents and market exclusivity restrict competition and provide drug developers considerable pricing power. The challenge for policymakers is how to achieve reasonable or fair drug prices in light of these market distortions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 230-238
Author(s):  
Luciana Pereira de Vasconcelos ◽  
Luiza de Oliveira Rodrigues ◽  
Moacyr Roberto Cuce Nobre

Purpose Good medical practice, evidence-based medicine (EBM) and clinical practice guidelines (CPG) have been recurring subjects in the scientific literature. EBM advocates argue that good medical practice should be guided by evidence-based CPG. On the other hand, critical authors of EBM methodology argue that various interests undermine the quality of evidence and reliability of CPG recommendations. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate patient related outcomes of CPG implementation, in light of EBM critics. Design/methodology/approach The authors opted for a rapid literature review. Findings There are few studies evaluating the effectiveness of CPG in patient-related outcomes. The systematic reviews found are not conclusive, although they suggest a positive impact of CPGs in relevant outcomes. Research limitations/implications This work was not a systematic review of literature, which is its main limitation. On the other hand, arguments from EBM and CPG critics were considered, and thus it can enlighten health institutions to recognize the caveats and to establish policies toward care improvement. Originality/value The paper is the first of its kind to discuss, based on the published literature, next steps toward better health practice, while acknowledging the caveats of this process.


Kybernetes ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 43 (9/10) ◽  
pp. 1372-1380
Author(s):  
Ann Morrison ◽  
Hendrik Knoche

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to synchronize two courses to focus on the students working with learning and applying tools in the one course and acting on understandings gained to produce artefacts in the other. Design/methodology/approach – Working with real users throughout all stages of the design process, the authors structured two courses so findings from the evaluation methods learnt in the one course (their analyses) were directly acted on in the other (their re-designs). The authors fostered a group-spirited learning environment where students presented designs-in-process; explained the findings from focused evaluation methods using tangible representations; identified the relationship from these findings for subsequent re-design rationales; and discussed and critiqued each other's work using multiple feedback, teach-back and discursive strategies. Findings – The authors found that in-depth coverage of material, working with real data and users at all stages of assessment and producing visualizations from evaluations, naturally forced student motivation to act and redesign better solutions. The authors noted improved attendance and students reported high engagement and content appreciation. Research limitations/implications – Ensuring relevance, by adding larger context concerns, expansive critical methods and feedback processes in a cycle of understanding, acting, learning can have useful practical and social implications. This is germane when designing for quality of everyday use in, for example, education, urban environments and mobile applications. Practical implications – The paper includes implications for the development of learning environments where course and semester content is developed in tandem to support integrated learning by acting with project output and teach back “presentations” throughout the course. Originality/value – The paper proposes a unifying tandem approach to learning and applying evaluation tools with real users, teachback and acting to improve redesigns with potential to improve human computer interaction educational standards for learning and design outcomes.


2003 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meredith B. Rosenthal ◽  
Ernst R. Berndt ◽  
Julie M. Donohue ◽  
Arnold M. Epstein ◽  
Richard G. Frank

The release of clarified Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines and independent changes in consumer behavior provide an opportunity to study the effects of direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) in the prescription drug market alongside the effects of various physician-oriented promotions. We examine the effects of DTCA and detailing for brands in five therapeutic classes of drugs, using monthly aggregate U.S. data from August 1996 through December 1999. In terms of impact of DTCA on demand, we provide evidence on two issues: (1) do increases in DTCA increase the market size of an entire therapeutic class? and (2) does DTCA increase within-class market share of advertised drugs? Our findings suggest that, for these classes of drugs, DTCA has been effective primarily through increasing the size of the entire class. Overall, we estimate that 13 to 22 percent of the recent growth in prescription drug spending is attributable to the effects of DTCA.


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