Value of Medicines

How do we calculate the value of a medicine?

How do we calculate the value of the smile of a child who doesn't have to feel the pain of cancer?

What is the value of giving a grandfather with congestive heart failure the energy to go fishing with his grandson?

You can not put a value on such things. We can however in some ways quantify the value of medicines to patients, to society and to the healthcare system. We can count the number of years it adds to a person's life, we can look at whether the medicine enables the person to work, or live independently, or simply enjoy life more, we can calculate the money saved when a medicine helps a patient avoid surgery, hospitalisation or admission to a nursing home.

The timely use of medicines in Ireland has:

  • Helped to improve life expectancy by over a third in the last eighty years from 57 in 1925 to 79 today;
  • Enabled hospitals to treat many more patients on a day care basis, up from 85,000 cases in 1987 to an expected 590,000 in 2007;
  • Assisted in the reduction of the average length of hospital stay from 9.6 days in 1981 to 6.3 days today.

The fact is that spending on medicines translates into overall cost savings for healthcare systems, keeping employees healthy and productive in society. Their cost must be set against the benefits if the debate is to be balanced and help achieve the outcome every person wants - to improve the health of the nation and create a cost effective healthcare system.

 
Controlling Healthcare Costs
Medicines save lives, relieve pain, cure and prevent disease. Medicines help keep families together longer and improve the quality of life for patients and caregivers. In the past 40 years, the use of medicines has helped diminish the number of hospital admissions for 12 major diseases by half, including peptic ulcers, mental illness, and infectious disease.
Opportunity to Deliver Efficient and Effective Care
In these difficult times, we have the opportunity to develop a healthcare system which would deliver more efficient and effective care to the patient. A system designed to intervene at the earlier, more cost effective primary care level rather than waiting until the expensive hospital care level, makes sense, both economically and from the point of view of patient welfare.
 

IPHA is a member of -

IFPMAAESGPEFPIA

For medicines and clinical trials information visit -

medicines.ieself-care.ieIFPMA Portal