SynthesisPloS one2017
Addressing the challenge of high-priced prescription drugs in the era of precision medicine: A systematic review of drug life cycles, therapeutic drug markets and regulatory frameworks.
Synthesis in PloS one, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 53 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
53 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Barriers and Enablers Affecting the Uptake of Biosimilar Medicines Viewed Through the Lens of Actor Network Theory: A Systematic Review.BioDrugs : clinical immunotherapeutics, biopharmaceuticals and gene therapy · 2024Pooled it
- The price and affordability of essential medicines, progress and regional distribution in China: a systematic review.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2023Pooled it
- Structural drivers of drug shortages and market withdrawal: a longitudinal analysis of the Romanian pharmaceutical market.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Managed Entry Agreements for Pharmaceutical Products in Three Maghreb Countries: Payer and Supplier Perspectives.Journal of market access & health policy · 2025Article
- Individual Prescribing Incentives for Biosimilars in Selected European Countries and the USA: a Scoping Literature Review.BioDrugs : clinical immunotherapeutics, biopharmaceuticals and gene therapy · 2025Article
- Determinants of polypharmacy among ambulatory cardiovascular disease patients in Iluababora and Buno Bedele Zones, Ethiopia: prospective observational study.BMC cardiovascular disorders · 2025Observational
- Prevalence of pharmaceutical industry conspiracy theories among the polish population.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Debates over orphan drug pricing: a meta-narrative literature review.Orphanet journal of rare diseases · 2025Review
- Cost Consciousness Among Dermatologists.Clinical, cosmetic and investigational dermatology · 2025Article
- A comparative analysis of biologics market dynamics in 12 countries: (Bio)similar and sustainability.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Article
- Views and opinions of the general public about the reimbursement of expensive medicines in the Netherlands.PloS one · 2025Article
- New Anticancer Drugs: Reliably Assessing "Value" While Addressing High Prices.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2024Article
- Global Barriers to Accessing Off-Patent Endocrine Therapies: A Renaissance of the Orphan Disease?The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2024Review
- Access to essential medicines used in the management of noncommunicable diseases in Southern Ethiopia: Analysis using WHO/HAI methodology.SAGE open medicine · 2024Article
- Unraveling elements of value-based pricing from a pharmaceutical industry's perspective: a scoping review.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2024Article
- Article
- Cancer Drug Price and Novelty in Mechanism of Action.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- Origin of Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance, and Their Impacts on Drug Development: A Narrative Review.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Expanding access to high-cost medicines under the Universal Health Coverage scheme in Thailand: review of current practices and recommendations.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2023Article
- The Imperative of Regulation: The Co-creation of a Medical and Non-medical US Opioid Crisis.Psychoactives · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
contextRecent public outcry has highlighted the rising cost of prescription drugs worldwide, which in several disease areas outpaces other health care expenditures and results in a suboptimal global availability of essential medicines.
methodA systematic review of Pubmed, the Financial Times, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Guardian was performed to identify articles related to the pricing of medicines.
findingsChanges in drug life cycles have dramatically affected patent medicine markets, which have long been considered a self-evident and self-sustainable source of income for highly profitable drug companies. Market failure in combination with high merger and acquisition activity in the sector have allowed price increases for even off-patent drugs. With market interventions and the introduction of QALY measures in health care, governments have tried to influence drug prices, but often encounter unintended consequences. Patent reform legislation, reference pricing, outcome-based pricing and incentivizing physicians and pharmacists to prescribe low-cost drugs are among the most promising short-term policy options. Due to the lack of systematic research on the effectiveness of policy measures, an increasing number of ad hoc decisions have been made with counterproductive effects on the availability of essential drugs. Future challenges demand new policies, for which recommendations are offered.
conclusionA fertile ground for high-priced drugs has been created by changes in drug life-cycle dynamics, the unintended effects of patent legislation, government policy measures and orphan drug programs. There is an urgent need for regulatory reform to curtail prices and safeguard equitable access to innovative medicines.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.