Drugs and adverse reactions: An economic view of a medical problem

This monograph attempts to show how patient, physician and drug producer should assess the value and risks of a drug from the economic point of view. The value of a drug lies in its efficacy against disease and pain; the risks are the various side effects. A hypothetical example illustrates the evaluation from the point of view of an individual patient. A distinction must be made here between diseases which may prove fatal and those of a less serious nature. This means that a distinction must also be made in evaluating the risks attached to a drug and the individual attitude to side effects. For the physician, the task of recognizing an adverse drug reaction (ADR) is an extremely complex one. A 11-step flow chart for decision making is presented as a benchmark procedure. Several empirical studies on the incidence of ADRs in ambulatory and hospitalized patients are shown to use shortcuts, which are entirely justified in daily medical practice, but questionable in a scientific analysis. For various reasons the drug manufacturer too is anxious to recognize ADRs at an early stage and to avoid them whenever possible. Prolonged clinical trials, however, produce a steep rise in costs and delay the launching of the product, while the additional information obtained is not always comprehensive and exhaustive. Moreover, the mere fact of recognizing an ADR does not mean that it can be prevented. The producer is therefore forced to consider the risks and costs involved in speeding up or delaying the introduction of a product. The fact that the drug has been approved for sale does not automatically release him from the obligation to carry out further intensive monitoring for the entire period that it is on the market.