Analysis of prices paid by low-income countries - how price sensitive is government demand for medicines?

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Alistair McGuire¹  Divya Srivastava² 

[1] LSE Health, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, WC2A 2AE, London, UK;OECD, 2 Rue Andre Pascal, 75016, Paris, France;

关键词: Medicines;    Low-income countries;    Pharmaceutical policy;    Health policy;    Government procurement;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-14-767

 received in 2013-11-16, accepted in 2014-07-17,  发布年份 2014

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundAccess to medicines is an important health policy issue. This paper considers demand structures in a selection of low-income countries from the perspective of public authorities as the evidence base is limited. Analysis of the demand for medicines in low-income countries is critical for effective pharmaceutical policy where regulation is less developed, health systems are cash constrained and medicines are not typically subsidised by a public health insurance systemMethodsThis study analyses the demand for medicines in low-income countries from the perspective of the prices paid by public authorities. The analysis draws on a unique dataset from World Health Organization (WHO) and Health Action International (HAI) using 2003 data on procurement prices of medicines across 16 low-income countries covering 48 branded drugs and 18 therapeutic categories. Variation in prices, the mark-ups over marginal costs and estimation of price elasticities allows assessment of whether these elasticities are correlated with a country’s national income.ResultsUsing the Ramsey pricing rule, the study’s findings suggest that substantial cross-country variation in prices and mark-ups exist, with price elasticities ranging from -1 to -2, which are weakly correlated with national income.ConclusionsGovernment demand for medicines thus appears to be price elastic, raising important policy implications aimed at improving access to medicines for patients in low-income countries.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Srivastava and McGuire; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014