SynthesisBMJ open2021
Determinants of drug prices: a systematic review of comparison studies.
Synthesis in BMJ open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- Heart failure: assessment of the global economic burden.European heart journal · 2025Pooled it
- The impact of the United States most favored nation policies on prices of branded medicines and research and development.Health policy OPEN · 2026Review
- The Price of National Pharmaceutical Pricing in the EU: A Proposal for "Common Procurement".Applied health economics and health policy · 2026Review
- Price determinants and pricing policies concerning potentially innovative health technologies: a scoping review.The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care · 2026Article
- Price transparency of cancer medicines: a crucial step towards informed pricing negotiations in the European region.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Article
- Evaluating factors associated with pharmaceutical price variation, dispersion and higher-tier pricing in Malaysia's public segmented procurement system: exploring market competition.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2026Article
- Replenish Revenue by Low-Cost Medicines, an Institution-Specific Action to Improve Access to High-Cost Medicines Used for Chronic Illness in Ethiopia: Narrative Review.Health science reports · 2025Article
- Assessing the environmental impact of coronary artery bypass grafting to decrease its footprint.European journal of cardio-thoracic surgery : official journal of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery · 2025Article
- Drivers of innovation value: simulation for new drug pricing evaluation based on system dynamics modelling.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Article
- Comparison of generic drug prices in Korea and eight high-income countries across four therapeutic classes.PloS one · 2025Article
- Treatment approaches for prostate cancer in sub-Saharan Africa.Translational cancer research · 2024Review
- Timely, Cheap, or Risk-Free? The Effect of Regulation on the Price and Availability of New Drugs.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Variables affecting new drug prices in South Korea's pricing system.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2024Article
- Medicines prices in International (Geary-Khamis) Dollar. The comparison between regulated and deregulated markets.PloS one · 2024Article
- Socioeconomic aspects of incretin-based therapy.Diabetologia · 2023Review
- Comparative price analysis of biological medicines: disparities generated by different pricing policies.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2023Article
- Determinants of drug expenditure in the Swiss healthcare market in 2006.BMC health services research · 2022Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveIn this systematic review on drug price comparison studies, we report on recent determinants of drug prices in a national and international context to facilitate regulation of drug prices by purchasers and policymakers worldwide. Determinants of drug prices were divided into non-modifiable and modifiable and were categorised as pertaining to a country's income level, pharmaceutical market system and its policies and government. PRIMARY OUTCOME: Determinants of drug prices or price variance.
designWe systematically searched PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science and Cochrane Library for peer-reviewed articles published between 2004 and 22 July 2020 that reported an association of the primary outcome with one or more determinants. We performed a best-evidence synthesis of these associations for determinants covered in at least three studies.
results31 publications were included. Only one publication described net drug prices and 30 described retail drug prices. Five modifiable determinants were associated with lower retail prices: generic market portion, discounts, tendering policies, central (governmental) purchasing and pricing regulation schemes. The originators market portion and a system in which mark-ups are common were associated with higher retail prices. Retail prices were highest in the USA, even compared with other high-income countries. A positive association between national income level and drug retail prices could not be established among middle-income and high-income countries. Retail prices were highest in low-income countries when adjusted for purchasing power parity.
conclusionsLiterature on determinants of net drug prices is extremely sparse. Various healthcare system interventions, market-specific and governmental regulations are consistently associated with lower retail prices. Some interventions are easily implementable in developing or middle-income countries, such as tendering, central purchasing and fixed pricing regulation schemes. Net drug price comparison studies are needed to overcome the lack of price transparency and to quantify the effectiveness of policy measures on net drug prices.
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.