Publications

2021
Working Paper

The Health Costs of Cost-Sharing

By: Amitabh Chandra, Evan Flack and Ziad Obermeyer

We use the design of Medicare’s prescription drug benefit program to demonstrate three facts about the health consequences of cost-sharing. First, we show that an as-if-random increase of 33.6% in out-of-pocket price (11.0 percentage points (p.p.) change in... View Details

Keywords: Cost-sharing; Impact; Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; Health; Consumer Behavior

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August 2008 (Revised September 2008)
Case

The Flaxil Label (A)

This case focuses on the 2001 negotiation between Mytex Pharmaceuticals and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The outcome of the negotiation would determine the new label for Mytex's blockbuster drug for arthritis, Flaxil. The negotiation is quite... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Health Disorders; Product Launch; Negotiation Process; Business and Government Relations; Safety; Pharmaceutical Industry

11 Oct 2011
Working Paper Summaries

US Healthcare Reform and the Pharmaceutical Industry

Keywords: by Arthur Daemmrich; Pharmaceutical; Health

October 2002
Case

A Father's Love: Novazyme Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer and Bradley Campbell

John Crowley, CEO of Novazyme Pharmaceuticals, a start-up biotechnology firm developing an orphan drug to treat a rare lysosomal storage disorder from which his children suffer, must choose between a partnership and a buyout to have sufficient funds and support to get... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Business Startups; Partners and Partnerships; Financing and Loans; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Sales; Price; Product Development; Motivation and Incentives; Decision Choices and Conditions; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

February 2003 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Pharmaceutical Industry, The: Challenges in the New Century

By: Stephen P. Bradley and James Weber

Provides a broad overview of the numerous internal and external forces that were driving change in the global pharmaceutical industry in 2003. These forces--including downward price pressures, political and social pressures, increased development costs, new... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Change; Cost; Price; Globalization; Government and Politics; Brands and Branding; Industry Growth; Society; Competition; Consolidation; Technology; Pharmaceutical Industry

18 Dec 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, December 18, 2018

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 orphan drugs... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

12 Jul 2016
First Look

July 12, 2016

spending. Whereas traditional (small-molecule) drugs have historically faced price competition from generic drugs after patent expiration, biosimilars—biologic View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

26 Jul 2016
Working Paper Summaries

The Impact of the Entry of Biosimilars: Evidence from Europe

Keywords: by Fiona Scott Morton, Ariel Dora Stern, and Scott Stern; Health; Biotechnology; Pharmaceutical

2024
Article

Effects of a Real-Time Information-Based Intervention on Physician Prescribing Behavior

By: Olivia Zhao and Anna D Sinaiko

High out-of-pocket (OOP) prices for prescription drugs create financial difficulties for patients, and cost-related underuse of medications can adversely patient health. Simultaneously, many physicians report a willingness to address affordability concerns with... View Details

Keywords: Price; Health Care and Treatment; Communication Technology; Technology Adoption; Customer Focus and Relationships; Health Industry

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10 Aug 2015
Research & Ideas

New Medical Devices Get To Patients Too Slowly

While the US Food and Drug Administration has chiseled away pharmaceutical review times over the years to speed innovative drugs to market, the opposite seems to have occurred in the agency's approval of... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health; Technology

01 Aug 2023
Cold Call Podcast

Can Business Transform Primary Health Care Across Africa?

Keywords: Re: Regina E. Herzlinger; Pharmaceutical; Health

August 2022
Article

Availability of New Medicines in the U.S. and Germany From 2004 to 2018

By: Katharina Blankart, Huseyin Naci and Amitabh Chandra

Importance: Germany's unique approach to coverage determination and pricing has ensured that effective medicines remain on the market, often at prices reduced through negotiation. However, less is known about trade-offs of this approach with regard to initial... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Price; Market Timing; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States; Germany

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October 2023
Article

What Does the Inflation Reduction Act Mean for Patients and Physicians?

By: Amitabh Chandra and Benedic Ippolito

The debate around prescription drug measures in the recently passed U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which limit some patients’ out-of-pocket costs, has not fully addressed their effect on physicians and patients via their effect on payers. Reducing patients’ costs... View Details

Keywords: Government Legislation; Price; Health Care and Treatment

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August 2018
Article

The Impact of the Entry of Biosimilars: Evidence from Europe

By: Fiona M. Scott Morton, Ariel Dora Stern and Scott Stern

Biologics represent a substantial and growing share of the U.S. drug market. Traditional “small molecule” generics quickly erode the price and share of the branded product upon entry; however, only a few biosimilars have been approved in the U.S. since 2015, thereby... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Biosimilars; Biologics; Pharmaceutical Competition; Healthcare Spending; Innovation; Health Care and Treatment; Spending; Market Entry and Exit; Competition; Innovation and Invention; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States; Europe

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February 2015
Case

Beckman Coulter, 2011

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In early 2011, Danaher was contemplating the acquisition of Beckman Coulter. With $3.7 billion of revenues in 2010 and $431 million in operating profits, California-based Beckman Coulter was a global leader in blood cell count diagnostic systems and also supplied a... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

February 2000 (Revised October 2000)
Case

Kendle International Inc.

By: Dwight B. Crane, Paul W. Marshall and Indra Reinbergs

Candace Kendle and Christopher Bergen, the CEO and COO of Kendle International, Inc., are reviewing ways to finance the growth of their privately-owned company. Kendle is a contract research organization that conducts clinical drug trials for pharmaceutical and... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Financing and Loans; Venture Capital; Stock Options; Banks and Banking; Debt Securities; International Finance; Financial Strategy; Management Skills; Private Ownership; Initial Public Offering; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

January 2021
Case

Value-Based Insurance Design at Onex

By: Joshua Schwartzstein, Amitabh Chandra and Amram Migdal

The operating executives of Health and Benefits for Onex Partners, Megan Jackson Frye and Sam Camens, faced a challenge: Healthcare costs for employees of Onex’s portfolio companies were continuing to rise above the consumer price index, reflecting broader trends... View Details

January 2001 (Revised July 2003)
Case

Pharmacyclics: Financing Research & Development

By: Malcolm P. Baker, Richard S. Ruback and Aldo Sesia

Pharmacyclics (NASDAQ: PCYC), a pharmaceutical company that manufactures products that will improve existing therapeutic treatments for cancer, arteriosclerosis, and retinal disease, was considering a $60 million private placement in February 2000. The company had more... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Cash Flow; Financing and Loans; Business Startups; Financial Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Health Industry