Pharmacoeconomics: Where do the numbers come from?

What is the cost to an employer of chronic presenteeism, where a person is well enough to go to work but isn’t really productive? What is the dollar value to a patient of being married in terms of health outcomes? How do you figure that out? There are so many factors to consider. When we read that condition [fill in the blank] accounts for X dollars of lost productivity per year, I always wonder, “where does that number come from and who came up with it?” In this episode, we find out.Lemar Ashar, a previous guest on Life Science Marketing Radio introduced me to Mark Gannott, to talk about pharmacoeconomics. We explored the cost and value of medical interventions, particularly drugs, from various stakeholders' perspectives (patients, healthcare providers, insurance companies, and healthcare systems). I was curious about the challenges of estimating disease costs and treatment impacts, where the data comes from and how it’s used to make decisions.Genomics, including genome-wide association studies (GWAS), and polygenic risk scores also play a role, potentially improving health outcomes and reducing side effects. We touched on a few specific use cases, such as the treatment of endometriosis and the use of polygenic risk scores in depression. I found it fascinating to get a glimpse into how decisions around the development and use of different drugs are made. Mark thinks that in the future, a field called precision pharmacoeconomics will incorporate personalized genomics data to assess the cost-effectiveness of drug therapies. If you want a (sort of) quick intro into the topic, this is the episode for you. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com