scholarly journals Rush to Judgement: Imaginary Worlds and Cost-Outcomes Claims for PCSK9 Inhibitors

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul C Langley

Pricing by the manufacturers of the two PCSK9 inhibitors recently approved by the FDA, evolocumab and alirocumab, has led to an ongoing debate over the value of these interventions in clinical practice. In the US, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) has been in the forefront of those who have argued that, in the context of notional incremental willingness-to-pay thresholds, manufacturers should reduce drug prices substantially. This conclusion has been echoed in a number of other technology assessments, notably in assessments by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in the UK. At the same time, other evaluations have reported favorably, arguing that at current US prices, the two products meet willingness-to-pay benchmarks. The purpose of this commentary is not to argue for or against current PCSK9 pricing policies but to point out that the case made for possible price adjustments rest upon technology assessments that fail to meet the standards of normal science. Modeled claims that are properly classified as pseudoscience. The claims made are non-evaluable. Formulary committees, rather than accepting these claims at face value, should step back and work with manufacturers to develop claims that are targeted, robust, evaluable and replicable in a timeframe where feedback on PCSK9 outcomes are meaningful to health system decision makers.   Type: Commentary

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Paul Langley ◽  
Stephen McKenna

The purpose of this anniversary supplement for Innovations in Pharmacy is to consider and / or propose modern, scientific methods for determining the evidence base for the fair pricing and accessibility of pharmaceutical products and medical devices. At present, such decisions are based on the construction of imaginary value assessment models that fail to meet the standards of normal science. Such a business model has been adopted by the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) in the US, NICE in the UK and in a number of other countries.   Article Type: Call for Papers


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 10-20
Author(s):  
Mouza Said Al Kalbani ◽  
Ahmad Bintouq

Funding of higher education institutions is a major growing expense for the Oman government (13–14% of the total spending in 2016) and is at par with that of other governments (e.g., 11% in the UK and 15.5% in the US). However, there has been little investigation into the funding of quality higher education in Oman. The present research project aims to explore the sources of funding at Oman universities after it opened the private education sector in 1996. The research methodology includes conducting interviews with leaders in higher education to explore different types of funding (e.g., gifts, tuition fees, government support). This will enhance our understanding, as well as that of decision-makers, regarding universities' funding sources and of the higher education landscape.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 71
Author(s):  
Zhe Wang ◽  
Yunjie Wu

Along with the separation of ownership and control in modern companies, the agency problem between shareholders and managers has become a core issue in corporate law. In recent decades, there was a trend of increasing executive compensation in many countries, which led to shareholders’ dissatisfaction and social concerns about the income gap. Since directors did not effectively solve the problem of excessive executive remuneration, many countries introduced the advisory shareholder vote on the remuneration report (‘Say on Pay’). It is a new mechanism that allows shareholders to vote on executive remuneration. After it was first introduced in the UK, many other countries including the US adopted ‘Say on Pay’ to relieve the problem of excessive executive remuneration. However, there is an ongoing debate about whether ‘Say on Pay’ has a meaningful influence on excessive executive compensation. Some believe that shareholder voting results lead directors to create better executive remuneration plans. Others argue that ‘Say on Pay’ contributes little to solving this problem. It is therefore essential to analyse the effects of ‘Say on Pay’ on solving the excessive executive remuneration problem in the UK and the US. This essay will analyse several arguments related to the influence of ‘Say on Pay’ on excessive executive compensation in order to demonstrate the reasons why ‘Say on Pay’ contributes little to solving the excessive executive remuneration problem in the UK and the US.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul C Langley

In March 2017 the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) released the 4th edition of their Guidelines for the Economic Evaluation of Health Technologies: Canada. These guidelines, which were first published and revised for a 3rd edition in 2006 are intended to help decision makers, health systems leaders and policy makers make well-informed decisions. They are designed, apparently, to support best practice in conducting health technology assessments in Canada. The purpose of this commentary is to consider whether or not the evidence standards proposed and the consequent modeled claims for economic effectiveness meet the standards of normal science: are the CADTH standards capable of generating claims for competing products that are credible, evaluable and replicable? The review argues that the standards proposed by CADTH do not meet the standards expected in normal science. Technical sophistication in building reference case imaginary worlds is not a substitute for claims that are experimentally evaluable or capable of assessment through systematic observation. There is no way of judging whether imaginary claims are right or even if they are wrong. CADTH is not alone in setting standards that fail to meet the standards of normal science. Recent commentaries on formulary submission guidelines in a number of other countries, to include Ireland, the Netherlands, France, Australia, the UK and New Zealand conclude that they are subject to the same criticism. If the CADTH guidelines were never intended to support feedback to health system decision makers, then this should be made clear. If not, then consideration should be given to withdrawing the guidelines to ensure they conform to these standards. Hopefully, future versions of the CADTH guidelines will address this issue and focus on a rigorous research program of claims assessment and feedback and not the building of imaginary worlds.   Type:  Commentary


2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 381-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Euan Hague ◽  
Alan Mackie

The United States media have given rather little attention to the question of the Scottish referendum despite important economic, political and military links between the US and the UK/Scotland. For some in the US a ‘no’ vote would be greeted with relief given these ties: for others, a ‘yes’ vote would be acclaimed as an underdog escaping England's imperium, a narrative clearly echoing America's own founding story. This article explores commentary in the US press and media as well as reporting evidence from on-going interviews with the Scottish diaspora in the US. It concludes that there is as complex a picture of the 2014 referendum in the United States as there is in Scotland.


2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-158
Author(s):  
Vytis Čiubrinskas

The Centre of Social Anthropology (CSA) at Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) in Kaunas has coordinated projects on this, including a current project on 'Retention of Lithuanian Identity under Conditions of Europeanisation and Globalisation: Patterns of Lithuanian-ness in Response to Identity Politics in Ireland, Norway, Spain, the UK and the US'. This has been designed as a multidisciplinary project. The actual expressions of identity politics of migrant, 'diasporic' or displaced identity of Lithuanian immigrants in their respective host country are being examined alongside with the national identity politics of those countries.


Author(s):  
Marcelo Bianconi ◽  
Liang Tan
Keyword(s):  
The Us ◽  

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document