Pharmacoeconomics: where is the link with pharmacokinetics and biopharmaceutics?

Several, mainly macroeconomic factors are putting increasing pressure on health care budgets. These budget constraints lead to cost containment measures by all partners involved in health care. Pharmacotherapy, too, is facing an increasing involvement in health economics or outcomes research. This paper will first deal with some basic principles of pharmacoeconomics. The relationship with pharmacokinetics and biopharmaceutics has perhaps not yet been an issue as such, though it should be pointed out that they play a key role in the efficiency of drug use. Many of the basic R&D investments aimed at developing cost-effective medicines should be founded on adequate pharmacokinetics. Also a rational use of drugs in practice can be achieved by adequate drug monitoring, resulting in a gain in cost-effectiveness. Last but not least, pharmacokinetics and biopharmaceutics can offer opportunities for the rational use of new or existing pharmaceutical products and for the maintenance of a sufficient market share. Some of these more technical aspects are discussed in the second part of this presentation.