Letters
Regulating the pharmaceutical industry
General public does not support value system inherent in cost effectiveness analyses
Editor–Some of the recommendations in Maynard and Bloor's editorial on regulating the pharmaceutical industry are reminiscent of the days when the government was generally believed to be the best arbiter of how industry should invest its resources.1
The authors' faith in the use of cost effectiveness analysis as a rationing mechanism is perhaps not surprising in view of their professional background. But to our knowledge there is no evidence—for example, from the Australian authorities—that the use of such analysis as a rationing mechanism improves public health. Indeed, some people have argued that it does exactly the opposite. It limits access to new interventions and protects established therapeutic regimens, which are never subjected to the same level of rigorous analysis.
Moreover, what research there has been suggests that the general public does not support the utilitarian value system inherent
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- Regulating the pharmaceutical industry
- Alan Maynard and Karen Bloor
BMJ 1997 315: 200-201.[Extract] [Full Text]
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