E-drug: Pharmacoeconomics in drug selection
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
SOME PLACES ARE STILL AVAILABLE
PHARMACOECONOMICS IN DRUG SELECTION
March 26 - April 8, 2000
South Africa
An international short course on the use of pharmacoeconomics in
drug selection, developed under the auspices of WHO/EDM, will be
held in South Africa, from March 27 - April 8, 2000. The aim of the
programme is to provide participants with an understanding of the
principles and techniques of pharmacoeconomics, and how these tools
can be used in making decisions about selecting and purchasing
pharmaceuticals for use in health care systems.
The course has been developed by an international consortium,
including departments of clinical pharmacology and public health at
the Universities of Newcastle and Sydney (Australia), and Dundee
(UK), in collaboration with Management Sciences for Health and
WHO/EDM. The programme in South Africa will be hosted jointly by
the University of Newcastle and the Medical University of Southern
Africa (MEDUNSA). The confirmed faculty includes Hans Hogerzeil,
David Henry, Suzanne Hill, Glenn Salkeld, Danielle Lang, Peter Davey,
Rob Summers, Jim Rankin. Other Faculty are to be confirmed.
The course will be problem-based, facilitated by international and
national experts. It will provide participants with the opportunity to
work in small groups, learning about and using pharmacoeconomic
techniques to address common problems in selecting drugs for
national and sub-national formularies. Participants should therefore be
working in some aspect of the academic or public health sector, and
have some responsibility, either at managerial level or "hands on"
level, for selection of pharmaceuticals for essential drugs lists or
hospital formularies. Participants should also have a basic
understanding of the principles of assessing and evaluating data for
drug selection.
COURSE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
The overall aim of the course is to develop students' knowledge and
skills of economic evaluation and evidence-based medicine as anaid to
pricing and purchasing decisions for medicines. Students will be
introduced to the principles and methods of pharmacoeconomicsand
develop skills in the application of those principles to key issues
surrounding the selection of drugs. Emphasis will be placed onlearning
by case study analysis and problem solving.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
- To identify and describe the kind of choices facing
national/state/provincial governments or organisations in
makingchoices about purchasing medicines;
- To provide a conceptual and analytical framework (both economic
and clinical) in which drug selection problems canbe analysed;
- To appreciate the relevance of fundamental economic concepts,
such as 'opportunity cost' and 'the margin' to drugpurchasing
decisions;
- To appreciate the usefulness of an evidence-based approach to
economic evaluation;
- To develop practical skills which will enable the participant to
appraise critically economic evaluations ofpharmaceuticals;
- To develop an understanding of how the results of economic
evaluations are dependent on the value judgementsmade; and
- To develop an understanding of the relationship between
evaluation and health policy.
BY THE END OF THE COURSE REGISTRANTS WILL BE ABLE TO:
- Perform a basic pharmacoeconomic evaluation
- Appraise critically an economic evaluation which would inform
drug purchasing decisions and subsequent pricenegotiations
TEACHING STYLE
- Participants will work in groups and will be given a number of
different tasks. The groups will be required to make decisions based
on the effectiveness, safety and cost of the drugs.
- Participants will be expected to spend time looking at information
and developing guidelines on the use of pharmacoeconomics. It is
expected that the guidelines will vary depending on the different
circumstances/background/context of the students.
- The key scenarios are described in each session heading, but there
will be optional problems for those groups that work faster.
KEY LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- To introduce participants to the basic concepts of decision-making
- To enable participants to perform a basic PE evaluation
- To enable participants to perform a basic assessment of the
quality of clinical trial data
- To demonstrate how cost-effectiveness ratios can change for
different indications
- To contextualise the role of PE evaluation in setting and managing
prices
- To enable participants to utilise PE evaluations in price
negotiations
- To introduce participants to the principles of appraisal applied in
the assessment of pharmacoeconomic evaluations
- To enable participants to perform a review/appraisal of a PE
assessment
- To develop guidelines for the appraisal of a PE evaluation
- To introduce participants to basic principles of PE modelling
- To enable participants to apply their PE skills in practice, and
- To contextualise the operational relevance of PE evaluations in
health systems
COURSE DETAILS
Venue: Week 1 will be conducted in a venue in Pretoria, the second at
Greenway Woods Conference and Golf Hotel on the White River
Country Estate in Mpumalanga.
Fees: $US3000 (includes tuition and course materials, accommodation
and meals, and local travel between venues) [Participants must find
their own sponsorship. The course fee does not include travel costs,
insurances and incidental expenses]
Language: English
Closing date: Late applications will be accepted. The number of
participants will be restricted to 40.
Application forms can be obtained from the secretariat.
Pharmacoeconomics Course Secretariat
School of Pharmacy,
MEDUNSA Pretoria, South Africa
+27-12-521 4080 (ph)
+27-12-532 3992 (fax)
medpharm@mweb.co.za
Further information about the course can be obtained from:
Suzanne Hill or David Henry
WHO Collaborating Centre for Training in Pharmacotherapy and
Rational Drug Use
Discipline of Clinical Pharmacology
University of Newcastle, Australia
E-mail: hillsu@mail.newcastle.edu.au or
mddah@mail.newcastle.edu.au
--
Send mail for the `E-Drug' conference to `e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.
Mail administrative requests to `majordomo@usa.healthnet.org'.
For additional assistance, send mail to: `owner-e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.