• Media type: E-Article
  • Title: Examining the link between price regulation and pharmaceutical R&D investment
  • Contributor: Vernon, John A.
  • Published: Wiley, 2005
  • Published in: Health Economics, 14 (2005) 1, Seite 1-16
  • Language: English
  • DOI: 10.1002/hec.897
  • ISSN: 1057-9230; 1099-1050
  • Keywords: Health Policy
  • Origination:
  • Footnote:
  • Description: <jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>This paper examines the link between price regulation and pharmaceutical research and development (R&amp;D) investment. I identify two mechanisms through which price regulation may exert an influence on R&amp;D: an expected‐profit effect and a cash‐flow effect. Using established models of the determinants of pharmaceutical R&amp;D, I exploit a unique fact to quantify firm exposure to pharmaceutical price regulation: relative to the rest of the world, the U.S. pharmaceutical market is largely unregulated with respect to price. Using this fact within the context of a system of quasi‐structural equations, I simulate how a new policy regulating pharmaceutical prices in the U.S. will affect R&amp;D investment. I find that such a policy will lead to a decline in industry R&amp;D by between 23.4 and 32.7%. This prediction, however, is accompanied by several caveats. Moreover, it says nothing about the implications for social welfare; therefore, these issues are also discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.</jats:p>