Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmaceutical Reimbursement Policy

Pharmacoepidemiologic research can have an important impact on the decisions that are made within the realm of formulary reimbursement policy. These decision are often guided by pharmacoeconomic analyses which are used as an implicit measure of a drug product's value in the real world. To ensure the real‐world representativeness of costs and consequences in a pharmacoeconomic analysis, pharmacoepidemiologic data are a necessary supplement in many circumstances. Pharmacoepidemiologic data may better reflect the effects of a drug in the real world compared to clinical trial experiences, and the data can also identify which therapies are replaced when a new drug is introduced into a postmarketing environment. Pharmacoepidemiologic studies involving administrative data bases and clinical surveillance programs have been used to achieve these goals.