Publications

29 Oct 2015
News

Options to Promote Competitive Generics Markets in the United States

January 2021 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Hester Pharmaceuticals (A): A Pricing Dilemma

By: Dante Roscini and John Masko

In August 2019, the leadership of Hester Pharmaceuticals (Hester) had a problem. Italy promised to be a key market for their new breakthrough oncology drug Akrozumab, but for almost two years, its single-payer healthcare system had been unable to agree with Hester on a... View Details

Keywords: Macroeconomics; Trade; Price; Global Range; Global Strategy; Globalized Markets and Industries; Health Care and Treatment; Patents; Monopoly; Negotiation; Business and Government Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Human Needs; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Pharmaceutical Industry; Italy

07 Oct 2014
News

Michael Porter: Disrupt Health Care to Save It

November 2008 (Revised July 2009)
Background Note

A Managerial Perspective on Clinical Trials

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich

This note describes the history and regulation of clinical trials, managerial challenges related to pharmaceutical product testing, and current debates regarding prescription drug safety. Since clinical testing takes between five and seven years, and consumes up to 70... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Health Testing and Trials; Product Development; Safety; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

December 1999 (Revised February 2001)
Case

CVS: The Web Strategy

By: John A. Deighton and Anjali C. Shah

How should America's second-largest pharmacy chain respond to the challenge from online drugstores? What threat does the web pose to bricks and mortar distribution of prescription drugs and the other items that make up 50% of a drugstore's sales? This case describes... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Marketing Channels; Distribution Channels; Service Operations; Corporate Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry; Web Services Industry

August 2001
Case

Pharmaceutical Industry and the AIDS Crisis in Developing Countries, The

Explores the controversy over the pricing of AIDS drugs in poor countries. This issue has received wide publicity due to two events: 1) a court case in South Africa that seeks to force drug companies to license their patents and 2) the announcement by the Indian... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Developing Countries and Economies; Business and Government Relations; Pharmaceutical Industry; South Africa; India

September 2014 (Revised February 2015)
Case

Pfizer and AstraZeneca: Marketing an Acquisition (A)

By: John A. Quelch and James Weber

In 2014, Pfizer proposed a friendly acquisition of AstraZeneca, but the AstraZeneca board resisted over price and strategy concerns. Was this good for pharmaceutical consumers? Pfizer, like pharmaceutical companies in general, faced difficulties in growing sales due to... View Details

Keywords: Health Care Policy; Mergers And Acquisitions; Marketing; Government Relations; Crisis Management; Decision Making; Growth and Development; Management; Markets; Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry; United Kingdom; United States

13 Oct 2016
News

Study shows coupons lead to big profits for drugmakers

January 1995 (Revised March 1997)
Case

A Bankruptcy Problem from the Talmud

Describes a problem of bankruptcy, following the treatment in the 2,000-year-old Babylonian Talmud. A person dies, leaving a number of debts that total more than the size of the estate. The question is: How should the estate be divided among the creditors? The case... View Details

Keywords: Analysis; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Economics

August 2004 (Revised July 2006)
Case

PROPECIA TM: Helping Make Hair Loss History

By: Marta Wosinska and Youngme E. Moon

In late 1997, Tom Casola, brand manager for Propecia, debates the best approach to market this breakthrough one-a-day pill for hair loss. This launch would be atypical for a prescription drug because of the key position of the consumer. As a result, the team's... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Communication Strategy; Customers; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Product; Performance Effectiveness; Problems and Challenges; Quality; Pharmaceutical Industry

March 2014
Editorial

Limits on Use of Health Economic Assessments for Rare Diseases

By: Hanna I. Hyry, Ariel Dora Stern, Jonathan CP Roos and Timothy M. Cox

Funding of expensive treatments for rare ('orphan') diseases is contentious. These agents fare poorly on 'efficiency' or health economic measures, such as the QALY, because of high cost and frequently poor gains in quality of life and survival. We show that... View Details

Keywords: Cost; Health Disorders; Health Care and Treatment; Pharmaceutical Industry

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31 Oct 2004
Research & Ideas

Bypass Marketing: Are Docs Influenced?

Until the close of the last decade, health consumers received much of their knowledge and advice about prescription drugs from their physicians or other health care professionals. Today, pharmaceutical... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

19 Mar 2018
News

Those coupons people use for expensive meds are starting to count for less

Article

How to Avoid Executive Stress

By: Thomas J. DeLong

When teaching various groups of executives, the author relates the story of a man addicted to prescription drugs and his brother who is addicted to achievement. Each group relates to these two professionally successful men and sees that they live largely on the edge of... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Personal Development and Career; Personal Characteristics; Emotions

May 2017
Article

When Discounts Raise Costs: The Effect of Copay Coupons on Generic Utilization

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

Branded pharmaceutical manufacturers frequently offer “copay coupons” that insulate consumers from cost sharing, thereby undermining insurers’ ability to influence drug utilization. We study the impact of copay coupons on branded drugs first facing generic entry... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Insurance Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

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Read Now

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

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Article

Overturning the ACA's Medicaid Expansion Would Likely Decrease Low-Income, Reproductive-Age Women's Healthcare Spending and Utilization

By: Lucy Chen, Richard G. Frank and Haiden A. Huskamp

In late 2020, the Supreme Court began hearing a case challenging the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which led to coverage gains for many low-income, reproductive-age women. To explore potential implications of a full ACA repeal for this population, we examined gains... View Details

Keywords: Medicaid; Women's Health; Health Insurance; Health Care and Treatment; Gender; Insurance; Poverty; Health Industry; United States