Publications

June 9, 2023
Article

A Radical Treatment for Insulin Pricing

By: Leemore S. Dafny

In 2021, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first interchangeable biosimilar for long-acting insulin, which many hoped would be substantially cheaper than the reference branded product. I explain why prices have barely changed, and argue that a... View Details

Keywords: Biosimilars; Rebates; Pharmaceuticals; Health Care and Treatment; Price; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

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20 Aug 2021
News

Business Groups Sue Over Healthcare Price Transparency Rule

06 Sep 2022
Research & Ideas

Curbing an Unlikely Culprit of Rising Drug Prices: Pharmaceutical Donations

ripple through the balance sheets of businesses and households alike. Indeed, after years of debate, Congress recently took aim at drug prices through provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act. But there are... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Insurance; Health; Pharmaceutical

April 2010
Teaching Note

Metabical: Pricing, Packaging, and Demand Forecasting Recommendations for a New Weight Loss Drug (Brief Case)

By: John A. Quelch and Heather Beckham

Teaching Note to 4183 View Details

Keywords: Return On Investment; Forecasting; Pricing Policies; Demand Planning; Price; Investment Return; Forecasting and Prediction

In 2021, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first interchangeable biosimilar for long-acting insulin, which many hoped would be substantially cheaper than the reference branded product. I explain why prices have barely changed, and argue that a... View Details

August 2012 (Revised August 2024)
Case

ABC Pharmaceuticals

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Erik R. Sparks

This case asks students to price a new drug that is in Stage II of its clinical trials. It contains detailed estimates of the time required and costs for all the steps needed to commercialize a drug in the U.S. Students will learn virtually all the steps required to... View Details

Keywords: Drug Development; Price; Product; Product Launch; Health Industry; Technology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

March 2024
Article

Medicare Price Negotiation and Pharmaceutical Innovation Following the Inflation Reduction Act

By: Matthew Vogel, Pragya Kakani, Amitabh Chandra and Rena M. Conti

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) requires Medicare to negotiate lower prices for some medicines with high Medicare spending. Using historical data from public and proprietary sources to apply the IRA's negotiation criteria retrospectively, we identify all drugs that... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Government Legislation; Health Care and Treatment; Negotiation; Price; Pharmaceutical Industry

15 Dec 2014
Research & Ideas

Deconstructing the Price Tag

When a company sets a price for a product, shoppers typically have no idea what it costs to produce that item. But it turns out that consumers reward efforts to lay out these figures—to deconstruct the price... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Retail

2018
Chapter

The Orphan Drug Act at 35: Observations and an Outlook for the Twenty-First Century

By: Nicholas Bagley, Benjamin Berger, Amitabh Chandra, Craig Garthwaite and Ariel Dora Stern

On the 35th anniversary of the adoption of the Orphan Drug Act (ODA), we describe the enormous changes in the markets for therapies for rare diseases that have emerged over recent decades. The most prominent example is the fact that the profit-maximizing price of new... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Laws and Statutes; Research and Development; Investment; Markets; Monopoly

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January 2009
Teaching Note

Biocon: Launching a New Cancer Drug in India (TN)

By: Sunil Gupta and Das Narayandas

Teaching Note for [508026]. View Details

Keywords: Product Launch; Market Timing; Price; Distribution Channels; Marketing Strategy; Health Care and Treatment; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; India

09 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

Warring Algorithms Could Be Driving Up Consumer Prices

being in second place, it’s a pretty good place to be.” Consumers end up paying more To study how pricing algorithms affect competition, MacKay and Brown collected detailed pricing data from five large,... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Retail

22 Feb 2016
Research & Ideas

The ‘Mother of Fair Trade’ was an Unabashed Price Protectionist

fascinating character to animate sometimes dry legalese.” Gleason’s quest for fair trade, or price protection, would not be easy. First off, the term “fair trade” in the 1930s had a different meaning than it does today when we use it to... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Retail; Health; Legal Services

22 Feb 2016
News

The ‘Mother of Fair Trade’ was an Unabashed Price Protectionist

Article

Undermining Value-Based Purchasing — Lessons from the Pharmaceutical Industry

By: Leemore S. Dafny, Christopher Ody and Matt Schmitt

The analogy between value-based purchasing in pharmaceuticals and the new frontier of alternative payment models for health care providers is relatively straightforward. Insurers are increasingly demanding steep discounts from providers in exchange for inclusion in... View Details

Keywords: Drug Copayment Coupons; Prescription Drug Policy; Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; Cost; Policy; Pharmaceutical Industry

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December 2022
Article

The Contribution of Price Growth to Pharmaceutical Revenue Growth in the United States: Evidence from Medicines Sold in Retail Pharmacies

By: Pragya Kakani, Michael Chernew and Amitabh Chandra

Context: To what extent does pharmaceutical revenue growth depend on new medicines versus increasing prices for existing medicines? Moreover, does using list prices, as is commonly done, instead of prices net of confidential rebates offered by manufacturers, which are... View Details

Keywords: Revenue; Price; Policy; Business Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry

October 2014 (Revised April 2023)
Case

Gilead: Hepatitis C Access Strategy (A)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Vikram Rangan and David E. Bloom

Gilead had come up with an innovative drug for Hepatitis C, which affected 180 million people worldwide. The drug was priced at $1,000 a pill for the US market. Gilead had to decide how to price and market the pill in developing countries that bore the brunt of the... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare; Pharmaceuticals; Pricing; Access To Care; Emerging Markets; Health Care and Treatment; Price; Strategy; Ethics; Health Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

January 2016 (Revised July 2018)
Case

Cyberdyne: A Leap to the Future

By: Doug J. Chung and Mayuka Yamazaki

Cyberdyne Inc. was a Japanese technology venture that wanted to commercialize a hybrid assistive limb (HAL). HAL was a robotic exoskeleton system for people who had difficulty walking due to nervous system disabilities resulting from stroke, spinal cord injury (SCI),... View Details

Keywords: Go-to-market Strategy; Pricing; Sales Channel; Technological Innovation; Marketing; Sales; Distribution; Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

01 Mar 2007
News

Daniel Vasella

years” in a Financial Times poll of 4,000 executives. He recently spoke about the public policy and business challenges ahead. U.S. consumers complain loudly that prescription drugs cost too much. What’s your response? We have a... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; multinational pharmaceutical company; prescription drugs; vaccines; Medicare; generics business; Health, Social Assistance

March 2015 (Revised January 2024)
Case

CV Ingenuity (A): How to Evaluate the Commercial Viability of New Health Care Technologies

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Andrew Otazo

Duke Rohlen (HBS MBA ’01) hoped to win over a prominent venture capital investor for Series B financing of his firm CVI that was creating a drug-eluting balloon (DES) to treat peripheral arterial disease. As a second-mover, Duke felt he was more likely to acquire... View Details