Impacts of Patent Expiry of Pharmaceutical Treatments in Eight OECD Countries, 2004-2010

Abstract

Variability in regulatory frameworks, industrial policy, physician/pharmacy autonomy, brand/generic distinctions, and the practice of medicine contribute to ambiguous interpretations of cross-country pharmaceutical cost comparisons. Here, we report cross-country comparisons that: (i) focus on ten therapeutic classes experiencing patent expiration and loss of exclusivity 2004–2010 in eight industrialized countries; (ii) convert revenues and unit sales to cost per day of treatment and number patient days treated using the World Health Organization’s Defined Daily Dosage metrics; (iii) compare patterns in costs per day of treatment with price index measures based on average price per day of treatment for each molecule computed over all molecule versions; (iv) utilizing econometric methods, model and quantify various factors affecting variations in daily treatment price indexes such as national regulatory and reimbursement policy changes, physician/pharmacy autonomy, and other factors; and (v) simulate changes in expenditures by country and therapeutic class had counterfactual policies been implemented.

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JEL codes

Replaces

Ernst R. Berndt, and Pierre Dubois, “Impacts of Patent Expiry and Regulatory Policies on Daily Cost of Pharmaceutical Treatments: OECD Countries, 2004-2010”, IDEI Working Paper, n. 702, March 2012.

Ernst R. Berndt, and Pierre Dubois, “Impacts of Patent Expiry and Regulatory Policies on Daily Cost of Pharmaceutical Treatments: OECD Countries, 2004-2010”, TSE Working Paper, n. 12-283, March 2012.

Reference

Ernst R. Berndt, and Pierre Dubois, “Impacts of Patent Expiry of Pharmaceutical Treatments in Eight OECD Countries, 2004-2010”, International Journal of the Economics of Business, vol. 23, n. 2, May 2016, pp. 125–147.