Unlocking the Value of Combination Therapies
Medicine
What is medicine?
Medicine refers to substances or treatments used to prevent, diagnose, alleviate, or cure diseases or medical conditions. It encompasses pharmaceutical drugs, therapies, or interventions aimed at restoring health, managing symptoms, or preventing illness in individuals or populations. Access to appropriate medicines, used sustainably, has substantial benefits for community health and related economic indicators.
What is the importance of medicine? Why is medicine a hot topic?
Medicine holds enduring significance due to its pivotal role in healthcare, benefiting various stakeholders involved in development, distribution, and consumption. Balancing these interests within a healthcare system is crucial to promote accessibility, affordability, and innovation in medicines, maximizing their positive impacts on public health.
The rising expenditure on medicines within healthcare systems, such as the National Health Service (NHS), has sparked debates regarding resource allocation. With medicine spending in the NHS increasing by over 5% since 2018, discussions have emerged questioning the efficiency of allocating a larger portion of the budget to medicines (Angelis et al., 2023). Some argue for redirecting funds to essential services, raising concerns about the optimal utilization of healthcare resources.
The prominence of medicine as a hot topic arises from the need to strike a balance between ensuring adequate access to effective treatments while managing healthcare costs efficiently. This debate revolves around optimizing resource allocation within healthcare systems, addressing the competing demands for funds among medicines, essential services, and innovative healthcare interventions.
Medicine’s significance lies in its potential to alleviate suffering, improve health outcomes, and enhance quality of life. Balancing the interests of various stakeholders, optimizing resource allocation, and fostering innovation in medicines are essential for healthcare systems to effectively meet the diverse needs of populations while ensuring sustainable and equitable access to healthcare.
What is the global impact of medicine?
The impact of medicines is multifaceted, significantly influencing health outcomes and extending beyond healthcare, encompassing economic and societal dimensions.
Medicines play a pivotal role in improving health outcomes, preventing illnesses, alleviating suffering, and prolonging lives. For instance, antiretrovirals for HIV/AIDS have had a profound impact, saving an estimated 15 million lives between 2000 and 2019 (World Health Organization, 2020), highlighting the transformative effect of medicines on public health.
Moreover, medicines exert a substantial economic impact. Improved health outcomes often lead to reduced healthcare utilization, cost-effective treatments, and savings in healthcare resources. This allows for the allocation of resources to untreated cases or other healthcare needs (Smith, 1990). Beyond the healthcare sector, medicines contribute to societal productivity. In the US alone, drug-related improvements in the ability to work were estimated to have gained 4.5 million workdays in 2016 (Chen and Goldman, 2018), underscoring their broader economic impact.
However, medicines can also have adverse effects, particularly when prescribed or used irresponsibly. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing concern, where increased antibiotic use leads to resistant bacteria survival and proliferation. AMR, attributed to 1.27 million deaths in 2019 (Murray et al., 2022), poses a substantial global health threat, emphasizing the negative consequences of inappropriate medicine usage.
In conclusion, while medicines substantially enhance health outcomes, improve productivity, and save lives, their impact extends beyond positive outcomes. Responsible use of medicines is critical to mitigate negative consequences such as AMR, ensuring their continued efficacy in addressing health challenges globally.
Health Economics and medicine?
Health economics plays a crucial role in shaping the landscape of medicines, influencing their innovation, accessibility, affordability, and integration within healthcare systems. Health economists employ various tools and analyses to address the complex challenges associated with medicines.
Assessing the effectiveness of policies designed to enhance access and affordability of medicines falls within the realm of health economics. Evaluating initiatives like the voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing and access (VPAS) enables health economists to understand the impact of such policies on pharmaceutical companies’ incentives to invest in research and development. This assessment aids in shaping policies that strike a balance between fostering innovation and ensuring accessibility of medicines.
In the realm of unique drugs like antibiotics, health economists contribute to the development of novel payment models.
They address barriers to innovation by designing payment structures that incentivize antibiotic development despite challenges in market attractiveness.
Resource allocation within constrained healthcare budgets necessitates informed decisions. Health economists conduct economic evaluations supporting Health Technology Assessment (HTA) by comparing new medicines with existing comparators in terms of costs and health outcomes. This evaluation, typically using metrics like quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), determines the value for money offered by new medicines. Recommendations for reimbursement by a country’s HTA body are influenced by these assessments, ensuring that medicines providing value to the healthcare system are prioritized.
However, while health economists inform resource allocation decisions, the final access to medicines involves societal value judgments, political priorities, and healthcare professionals’ input. Health economics serves as a critical tool in guiding these decisions, but other factors also shape the ultimate access and utilization of medicines within healthcare systems.
