Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy

An estimated 1 in 4 people worldwide lack access to essential medicines, with prescription drugs often unaffordable or unavailable. Strategies to broaden access remain highly contested. This course explores the complex and contentious world of drug development and regulation across the globe. It will touch on topics such as incentives for research and development in the drug industry, intellectual property rights, and pricing and financing of essential medicines. Lectures and seminars draw on real-world case studies to explore key policy and economic issues affecting pharmaceutical markets, with an emphasis on the affordability, availability, and accessibility of medicines and vaccines. The course will investigate these issues from the perspectives of governments, drug companies, non-governmental organizations, physicians, pharmacists, and patients.