Introduction
Pharmacoeconomic evaluation is an analytical tool used with increasing frequency to assist decision making in the financing and management of pharmaceutical products in the health care system or national health insurance programs of an individual country. Pharmacoeconomic (PE) guidelines can be used as a standard for preparation of studies to be included in application for reimbursement, a guide for designing and conducting a study, or a template for evaluating the economic study reports.
This section of the ISPOR website, “Pharmacoeconomic Guidelines Around the World” provides the following:
A comparative table of 33 guideline key features. The key features of the guidelines are: 1) type, 2) title and year of the document, 3) affiliation of authors, 4) main policy objective, 5) standard reporting format included, 6) disclosure of funding/ author’s interests, 7) target audience, 8) perspective, 9) indication, 10) target population, 11) subgroup analysis, 12) choice of comparator, 13) time horizon, 14) assumptions required, 15) preferred analytical technique, 16) costs to be included, 17) source of costs, 18) modeling, 19) systematic review of evidences, 20) preference for effectiveness over efficacy, 21) preferred outcome measure, 22) preferred method to derive utility, 23) Equity issue stated, 24) discounting costs, 25) discounting outcomes, 26) sensitivity analysis- parameters and range, 27) sensitivity analysis- methods, 28) presenting results, 29) incremental analysis, 30) total C/E, 31) portability of results (generalizability), 32) financial impact analysis, and 33) Mandatory or recommended or voluntary