Pharmaceutical Policy Analysis (Summerschool)

Medicines are among the most regulated products in society. From the earliest pre-clinical stages onward, policy makers want to foster the development of safe, effective and affordable medicines for patients in need of pharmacotherapy. Priority Medicines and Orphan Drugs are examples of concepts that aim to energise new ‘social contracts’ between society and drug innovators.

When a drug reaches the market, it is the beginning of a process of complex interactions between patients, prescribers, insurers, pharmaceutical companies and governments.

Furthermore, from a global perspective, the reality is that two billion people do not have access to essential medicines. The inequity in access to medicines is still a defining characteristic of the global pharmaceutical market place.

This course will cover these issues from a scientific, regulatory, public health and international policy perspective. As a collaborator on this course, the World Health Organization will provide faculty for several of the sessions. The course has close links to the Prestige Master Drug Innovation.

Our courses are aimed at clinical researchers, nurses, general practitioners, and other health professionals who want to improve their skills in epidemiology, statistics and (clinical) research.

To gain insight into current developments in pharmaceutical policy making as well to give a better understanding of the methods available for analysing the effects of policy interventions.

Specifically insight will be gained in:

• pharmaceutical policy landscape
• pharmaceutical response to public health needs
• current challenges in drug innovation
• regulating sustainable delivery systems for medicines
• access, affordability and reimbursement systems
• ethics and equity
• prescribing of medicines, drug promotion, evidence-based medicine and variability
• drug usage, adherence to therapy and patient needs
• ‘Priority medicines’ as pharmaceutical policy analysis tool

1 week, fulltime