Pharmaceutical Reform Research Articles

ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ ФАРМАЦЕВТИЧЕСКИХ КОМПАНИЙ В УСЛОВИЯХ ЦИФРОВОЙ ТРАНСФОРМАЦИИ

It has become an increasingly important task for the current society to accelerate the pace of the construction of digital society and pay attention to creating new advantages of digital economy. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), many enterprises have faced production interruption, frequent supply chain obstruction, and the stage process of resuming production. Many enterprises’ industry status has also been severely affected, operating costs have skyrocketed, and prof it margins have continued to be squeezed. In addition, with the continuous deepening of the pharmaceutical reform, the management system of pharmaceutical enterprises is in urgent need of updating, and internal innovation and change are imperative. Digital transformation will be an important measure for pharmaceutical enterprises to optimize the industrial structure and adapt to the era of policy.

Promoting the development of ethnic medicine in China: policy evaluation and optimization countermeasures.

The coordinated development of ethnic medicine is a basic necessity for steady construction of a healthy China. This process includes closely following domestic and foreign policies, including changes, through the optimization of policies; shaping the new direction of the development of national medicine; and achieving comprehensive technological and industrial upgrades. As such, ensuring the all-round development of national medicine in China remains a great challenge. This paper takes the relevant policies of national and local ethnic medicine issued by the government as the research object, and, through the full interpretation of the policy-issuing body, policy content, and policy effectiveness, deeply analyzes the current situation of the policy's role in ethnic medicine and explores the distribution of policy types, subject-cooperation modes, and scoring levels in various dimensions. This study found that, in the new era of pharmaceutical reform, the State lacks a variety of special policies on ethnomedicine, and there is also an imbalance in the use of policy tools at both the central and local levels as well as synergies in the implementation of policies that need to be further strengthened. There remains a need to continue to improve the policy-evaluation system, optimize the structure for the use of policy tools, and improve the rates of application and implementation of the national medicine policy by strengthening cross-provincial and multisectoral cooperation to promote the revitalization of the national medicine industry in China.

The Pharmaceutical Policy Reforms in Greece during the Economic Crisis, 2010-2015

In the decade 2000-2009 Greece had the higher rate of public pharmaceutical expenditures as a percentage out of the total public health expenditure and the bigger per capita consumption of public pharmaceutical expenditure among the EU countries. At the end of this decade, Greek governments confronted with this “paradox” and tried to reduce it unsuccessfully. In order to finance its debt, Greece took a financial package of 110 billion € from Troika of the European Commission (EC), European Central Bank (ECB), and International Monetary Fund (IMF) under strict conditions and adopted austere policies designed by Troika all over the public finance sector in order to reduce its debts. Our aim is to provide an overview of new legislation starting from the first memorandum until the first quarter of 2014 and to record the impact of pharmaceutical reforms in all over the pharmaceutical chain. The legislation of this period had the reduction in public pharmaceutical expenditures as a primary endpoint. The new laws focus on new drug pricing policies, profit control regulations, and demand regulations. The economic targets in order to decrease public pharmaceutical expenditures were achieved but not without cost, all the parts in the pharmaceutical chain were affected, especially the last link the patients.

The pharmaceutical reform in the Republic of Moldova during the period of independence

Over the last two decades, the Republic of Moldova has gone through a complex and controversial way of its development. Determining its vector of development based on the democratic values of Western culture the legal framework has been practically completely revised and created. The concept of reforming the pharmaceutical sector in the Republic of Moldova included: liberalization of prices and freedom from the planned system of economic management while creating the necessary mechanisms for the functioning of the market economy – creating the banking system, establishing the capital market, introducing the national currency, creating other institutions, as well as the huge process of creating a new legal framework.

Medicating Anaesthesiology: Pharmaceutical Change, Specialisation and Healthcare Reform in Post-War Britain

Summary This article examines how chemists, pharmacologists and anaesthetists developed the anaesthetic drug halothane and assessed the clinical use of the drug in the UK in the 1950s. I argue that halothane became seen as a superior drug not because of properties inherent in the new molecule CF3-CHClBr, but because anaesthetists used it to build a professional identity during a period of significant change in British medicine. The recently established National Health Service called for increasing the number of anaesthetists and other specialist hospital consultants. In this context, the specialist knowledge, novel technologies and new practices necessary for the safe usage of halothane enabled anaesthetists to forge a profession. The history of this process shows how professionalisation, pharmaceutical change and healthcare reform have interacted to shape knowledge transfer between laboratory and hospital with consequences for experimental ethics and patient safety.

Impact of the zero-mark-up drug policy on drug-related expenditures and use in public hospitals, 2016–2018: an interrupted time series study in Shaanxi

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to measure the impact of zero-mark-up drug policy (ZMDP) on drug-related expenditures and use in urban hospitals.DesignThis was a retrospective observational study of trends...

Opiates and the ‘Therapeutic Revolution’ in Japan

Summary This article argues that the widespread use of opiate-compounded medicines in late-nineteenth-century Japan was partly a result of Meiji period (1868–1912) public health policies. An overview of the status of opiates in Japan from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries is intended to explain possible reasons: pharmaceutical reforms in the 1870s and 1880s were based on Edo-period (1603–1868) protostructures of regulated drug manufacture; in contrast, the Meiji government failed to introduce Western clinical practice within a short span of time. As a result opiates, marketed as Western ‘modern’ medicines, were smoothly integrated into pre-existing beliefs, according to which drugs and diets maintained bodily health.

Drug Policy in Greece

To provide a detailed overview of the recent reforms in pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement processes as well as in other important areas of the pharmaceutical policy in Greece. Information was collected via a structured questionnaire. The study used publicly available resources, such as publications, relevant legislation, and statistical data, while health experts were also consulted. Recent pharmaceutical reforms included significant price cuts, increased co-payments and some provisions for vulnerable groups, rebates/clawbacks, mandatory electronic prescribing and prescription by international nonproprietary name, generics substitution, prescription limits and detailed auditing, centralized procurement, as well as changes in the pricing and reimbursement processes, with the introduction of positive and negative lists and an internal price referencing system. Price lists are compiled by the National Organization for Medicines and are issued by the Ministry of Health (MoH). An advisory pricing committee comprising representatives of stakeholder groups was abolished in early 2018. Nevertheless, under the new provisions, a health technology assessment body for the economic evaluation of reimbursed drugs is to be established for the first time in Greece. The committee is to be staffed by experts appointed by a ministerial decision of the MoH. The specific features of the process are yet to be determined. The pricing and reimbursement decision-making processes are centralized under the competence of the MoH. Despite the good intentions of the reformers, there are still some aspects of transparency, equity, and long-term sustainability that remain under question in Greece.

Physician Leaders in the US and Canada Launch Sweeping Pharmaceutical Reform Proposal

Physician Leaders in the US and Canada Launch Sweeping Pharmaceutical Reform Proposal

Does the leading pharmaceutical reform in China really solve the issue of overly expensive healthcare services? Evidence from an empirical study.

BackgroundHealthcare system reform of Sanming city has become a leading healthcare reform model in China. It has developed a rigorous pharmaceutical reform consisted of the Zero Mark-up Drug Policy and the Centralized Procurement of Medicine Policy to bring down drug expenses and total health expenditures. However, despite the credit and much attention have been given to Sanming’s pharmaceutical reform, its impact still remains unclear. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the impact of the pharmaceutical reform of Sanming on both drug and total health expenditures.MethodsInterrupted time series analysis with three segments divided by two intervention points was employed to evaluate the impact of the pharmaceutical reform. Segment 1 was the pre-reform period which captured the baseline information. Segment 2 occurred after the first intervention point when the Zero Mark-up Drug Policy was implemented, whereas Segment 3 was after the implementation of the Centralized Procurement of Medicine Policy. Primary outcomes are outpatient drug expenditure, outpatient total health expenditure, inpatient drug expenditure, and inpatient total health expenditure. Data spanning from May 2012 to May 2014 are included.ResultsBoth drug and total health expenditures exhibited rising trends before any policy was carried out. The launch of Zero Mark-up Drug Policy led to significant instant reductions in levels of outpatient drug expenditure (coefficient = -6,602.99, p<0.01), outpatient total health expenditure (coefficient = -9,958.58, p<0.05), inpatient drug expenditure (coefficient = -7,520.90, p<0.01), and inpatient total health expenditure (coefficient = -16,737, p<0.01). Moreover, the previous upward trends were changed into downward trends for inpatient drug expenditure (coefficient = -2,747.02, p = 0.00) and total health expenditure (coefficient = -3,069.29, p = 0.12). However, after the implementation of Centralized Procurement of Medicine Policy, we observed no significant instant level changes and also, the inpatient drug expenditure (coefficient = 372.95, p = 0.01) and total health expenditure (coefficient = 788.76, p = 0.06) resumed upward trends again.ConclusionsAlthough the pharmaceutical reform could control or reduced drug expenditure and total health expenditure in short term, expenditures gradually resumed growing again and reached or even exceeded their baseline levels of pre-reform period, indicating the effect became weakened or even faded out in long term. In all, the pharmaceutical reform as a whole failed to meet its goal of combating sharp growth of drug and total health expenditure.

How well does the leading pharmaceutical reform model work in china? --an interrupted time series analysis

This present study aimed to explore the impact of the pharmaceutical reform of Sanming city, one of the most leading healthcare reform models in China on both drug and total health expenditures. Interrupted time series analysis with two intervention points was used to examine the impact of the pharmaceutical reform in Sanming City, China. The first intervention point was the implementation of Zero Mark-up Drug Policy, whereas the second one was the launch of Centralized Procurement of Medicine Policy. Primary outcomes are monthly inpatient drug expenditure and monthly inpatient total health expenditure. Data spanning from May 2012 to May 2014 are included. Both inpatient drug and total health expenditures exhibited rising trends before any policy was carried out. The launch of Zero Mark-up Drug Policy led to significant instant reductions in levels of inpatient drug expenditure (coefficient= -7,520.90, p<0.01) and total health expenditure (coefficient= -16,737, p<0.01). Moreover, the previous upward trends were changed into downward trends for inpatient drug expenditure (coefficient= -2,747.02, p=0.00) and total health expenditure (coefficient= -3,069.29, p=0.12). However, after the implementation of Centralized Procurement of Medicine Policy, we observed no significant instant level changes and also, the inpatient drug expenditure (coefficient=372.95, p=0.01) and total health expenditure (coefficient=788.76, p=0.06) resumed upward trends again meaning they returned to growing again. Although the pharmaceutical reform could control or reduced drug expenditure and total health expenditure in short term, the effect became weakened or even faded out in long term, indicating expenditures gradually resumed growing again and reached or even exceeded their baseline levels of pre-reform period. In all, the pharmaceutical reform as a whole failed to meet its goal of combating sharp growth of drug and total health expenditure.

Introduction of Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme reforms at three Victorian public health services

Introduction of Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme reforms at three Victorian public health services

Assessing the value of medicinal innovation in an era of increasing austerity

&lt;p&gt;In this paper an overview of the rewarding&lt;br /&gt;innovation pharmaceutical regulatory systems&lt;br /&gt;has been presented, focusing on the emerging&lt;br /&gt;role of innovation and health technology&lt;br /&gt;assessment (HTA). Ιn a time of political and&lt;br /&gt;financial turmoil, benefits could be obtained&lt;br /&gt;through the pooling of resources and&lt;br /&gt;experiences among various countries. For this&lt;br /&gt;purpose, recent major pharmaceutical reforms&lt;br /&gt;in Greece have been critically discussed taking&lt;br /&gt;into consideration the dynamic and complex&lt;br /&gt;environment among cost containment measures&lt;br /&gt;and the recent implementation of HTA in&lt;br /&gt;combination with some of the critical factors&lt;br /&gt;that influence today’s key decision makers, such&lt;br /&gt;as the economic crisis, increasing austerity as&lt;br /&gt;well as political and international pressures.&lt;/p&gt;

Barriers around access to abortion experienced by rural women in New South Wales, Australia

Little is known about Australian rural women's overall experiences of accessing an abortion service and the barriers they encounter. Approximately one in three Australian women access an abortion at some time in their lives. Most abortions are undertaken during the first trimester of pregnancy in private clinics. Although both medical and surgical abortions are uncomplicated medical procedures, abortion remains a contentious area of women's health. Whilst it is clear that rural women experience disparities in relation to access to health care, there is a gap in the evidence on rural women's experiences of accessing an abortion. The aim of the present study was to identify factors that women in rural New South Wales (NSW) experience in accessing abortion services and suggestions about how rural women could be better supported when seeking access to an abortion service. In-depth qualitative interviews were undertaken with rural women living in NSW who had had an abortion in the previous 15 years. Participants self-selected for a phone or face-to-face interview, in response to promotion of the study through women's services, community flyers and press releases. Rural women in this study experienced many barriers to accessing an abortion. Women travelled 1-9 hours one way to access an abortion in clinics. Several women borrowed money for the abortion fee. Five themes were identified: finding information about the provider; stigma, shame and secrecy; logistics involved in accessing the clinic related to travel, money and support; medical and surgical abortion; and ways rural women could be better supported in this process. Suggestions to improve rural women's access to abortion services included more affordable services that were 'closer to home' as a way to reduce travel and cost, and to normalise abortion as a women's health rights issue. Despite welcome legal and pharmaceutical reform in Australia, results from this small study indicate that there is a long way to go remove barriers on issues rural women experience in their process of accessing reproductive care, including the pervasiveness of abortion stigma. Services closer to home may help reduce inequities in access to health care experienced by rural women. Strategies such as broader use of tele-health and willingness of general practitioners to become authorised prescribers for medical abortions could help to reduce long distances to travel to services and the financial burden experienced by rural women.

Foregoing medicines in the former Soviet Union: Changes between 2001 and 2010

Pharmaceutical costs dominate out-of-pocket payments in former Soviet countries, posing a severe threat to financial equity and access to health services. Nationally representative household survey data collected in Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine were analysed to compare the level of population having to forego medicines in 2001 and 2010. Subgroup analysis was conducted to assess differences between populations of different economic status, and rural and urban populations. A substantial proportion of the population did forego medicines in 2010, from 29.2% in Belarus to 72.9% in Georgia. There was a decline in people foregoing medicines between 2001 and 2010; the greatest decline was seen in Moldova [rate ratio (RR)=0.67 (0.63; 0.71)] and Kyrgyzstan [RR=0.63 (0.60; 0.67)], while very little improvement took place in countries with a higher Gross National Income (GNI) per capita and greater GNI growth over the decade such as Armenia [RR=0.92 (0.87; 0.96)] and Georgia [RR=0.95 (0.92; 0.98)]. Wealthier, urban populations have benefited more than poorer, rural households in some countries. Countries experiencing the greatest improvement over the study period were those that have implemented policies such as price controls, expanded benefits packages, and encouragement of rational prescribing. Greater commitment to pharmaceutical reform is needed to ensure that people are not forced to forego medicines.

Generic substitution in Finland: lessons learned during 2003-2008

Objectives Obligatory generic substitution (GS) was introduced in Finland in 2003 with the aim of containing medicine costs. In this article The materialized impacts of GS are compared with the impacts that were anticipated before GS was introduced. The implementation of GS in Finland is described from the perspectives of generated savings, patients, physicians and the pharmaceutical distribution chain during the years 2003–2008. Methods The studies in this research project were done between 2003 and 2008. Data were collected by means of questionnaires, interviews and register-based studies. Data from the Social Insurance Institution of Finland regarding GS are also included in this article. Key findings Obligatory GS has been a successful pharmaceutical policy reform in Finland, and it has been quite effectively implemented in practice. GS has generated significant savings in the cost of medicines through substitution and price competition. Finnish patients and physicians have accepted it. GS has also had many anticipated impacts on the parties involved in the pharmaceutical distribution chain. However, some of the anticipated effects, such as medicine availability problems, have not materialized. Conclusions Implementation of pharmaceutical policy reforms should always be evaluated from different perspectives and at the beginning of the reform and several years after it has been introduced.

Strategy and experience of cultivating scientific research ability of pharmaceutical undergraduates

The cultivation of scientific research diathesis and ability of pharmaceutical undergraduates is one of the goals of the contemporary pharmaceutical university education.This paper proposes some advices on how to cultivate and increase scientific research diathesis and ability of pharmaceutical undergraduates.It may give references to pharmaceutical teaching reform and scientific research practice.

Impact of Pharmaceutical Reforms on Non‐Prescription Medication Management in Post‐Natal Women Following Discharge from Hospital

ABSTRACTBackgroundPharmaceutical reforms were introduced to South Australia in 2007 and resulted in significant changes to the provision of medications on discharge for postnatal women. Women are required to pay for each medication provided on discharge, where previously these were free of charge.AimTo determine whether postnatal women discharged from the Women's and Children's Hospital purchased recommended non‐prescription medications.MethodPostnatal women who delivered over a 3‐week period (May to June 2010) completed a short questionnaire during a home visit by a midwife in the days following discharge. The questionnaire collected data on demographics, as well as on medications supplied on discharge, whether non‐prescription medications were recommended to be purchased post‐discharge and whether these medications were purchased.Results70 questionnaires were returned and analysed (response rate 30%). 110 non‐prescription medications were recommended for purchase post‐discharge; 42 were not purchased because they were present at home. Of the remainder, 42 (62%) were purchased and 26 (38%) were not purchased. The most common reason for medications not being purchased was that it was no longer required (59%). Medications purchased most often included iron (83%) and vitamin D (100%), while those purchased least often included urinary alkalinisers (33%) and fibre supplements (44%).ConclusionPharmaceutical reforms do not appear to have had an adverse impact on non‐prescription medication management in postnatal women. The majority of non‐prescription medications were purchased as recommended post‐discharge.

Cultivation of innovative experimental ability of pharmaceutical undergraduates

Pharmacy is a subject based on experiments.On the base of pharmaceutical experimental educational reform and teaching practices,this paper proposes some advices on experimental teaching reform and cultivation and improvement of the innovative ability of pharmaceutical undergraduates.It would give reference for pharmaceutical teaching and scientific research.

Pharmaceutical supply chain in China: Current issues and implications for health system reform

This article discusses the performance and distortions of pharmaceutical market in China and provides some reflections and policy implications for currently implemented reform. This study is based on literature review and publicly available data by searching electronic databases and official web pages of the Chinese government on the internet. China's economic transition and the incremental and piecemeal nature of health care reform have created a pharmaceutical market with a number of deficiencies, including ineffective supervision, mark-up price pattern, distortion of the price schedule, and lack of authoritative drug formulary. We conclude that the root cause of the market and government failures is that higher-than-cost drugs preferred by all suppliers. New drug pricing mechanism is the key to the current pharmaceutical reform and should be implemented in coordination with other health system reforms.