Pharmacoeconomics in the years of crisis: a solution or just a resolution? A Cyprus perspective

Abstract

Cyprus is one of the latest countries to apply for a bailout with Troika. Major reforms applied and health sector was massively restructured. Cyprus is currently the single EU country without a Health System and health care spending is primarily driven by out-of-pocket payment. Pharmaceutical sector is divided into private and public sector, which are fragmented and are highly heterogeneously regulated. Although there is a need to introduce economic evaluations for pharmaceuticals, current adverse and unstable economic environment, along with some attributes of the country are not good prognostic factors. We suggest that some forms of economic evaluations could be introduced selectively during recession. Unification of health sector in the form of a National System would enable full scale introduction of economic evaluations.

Keywords::

• Cyprus
• economic evaluation
• evidence-based medicine
• financial recession
• pharmacoeconomics
• value-based pricing

Acknowledgements

Author is grateful to C Purslow and also to three anonymous referees for their valuable comments in an earlier version of this paper, which enabled us to further improve it.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The author has no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Key issues

• Economic evaluation based on evidence-based medicine remains the holy grail of assessing pharmaceuticals.

• Cost-effective products must not be considered as the panacea as they must fit within budget constraints.

• Crisis will change the health context: From volume to priority setting.

• Health will be evolving: Diverting resources from ineffective areas and moving resources within and across therapeutic areas to allow funds for innovation.

• Cost increase in the context of current harsh financial environment and fragmented health care sector are major deterring factors that may hinder the introduction of a proper pharmacoeconomics scheme in Cyprus.

• Value-based pricing could deal with some therapeutic categories.

• A unified national health system can accelerate uptake of economic evaluation in Cyprus.