Public-Private Roles in the Pharmaceutical Sector - Implications for Equitable Access and Rational Drug Use - Health Economics and Drugs Series, No. 005: 2. Pharmaceutical markets: structure and performance

Public-Private Roles in the Pharmaceutical Sector - Implications for Equitable Access and Rational Drug Use - Health Economics and Drugs Series, No. 005
(1997; 115 pages) [French] [Spanish]

Table of Contents

	Authors
	Acknowledgements
	Abbreviations and Acronyms
	Executive summary
	1. Public and private roles in the pharmaceutical sector
		1.1 Some definitions of public-private roles
		1.2 Questions on public-private roles
		1.3 The context of change
		1.4 Principles for assessing public-private roles
	2. Pharmaceutical markets: structure and performance
		2.1 Drug financing and distribution systems
		2.2 The pharmaceutical market: structures and actors
		2.3 Pharmaceutical market failure
	3. Essential state responsibilities
		3.1 Policy-making
		3.2 Drug regulation
		3.3 Professional standards
		3.4 Access to essential drugs
		3.5 Rational drug use
	4. The public-private mix in drug markets: a global picture¹
		4.1 Production
		4.2 National expenditure
		4.3 Drug distribution systems
		4.4 Household expenditures and sources of drugs
		4.5 Summary points
	5. Market mechanisms in public drug supply
		5.1 Organization of the supply system
		5.2 Desirability of using market mechanisms
		5.3 Summary points
	6. Promoting public health needs through the private sector
		6.1 Public health concerns
		6.2 Availability (geographical access)
		6.3 Making drug prices affordable
		6.4 Affordable financing for drugs
		6.5 Rational drug use
		6.6 Drug quality, safety and efficacy
		6.7 Summary points
	7. Pharmaceutical production and public-private roles
		7.1 Arguments for and against public sector pharmaceutical production
		7.2 The government's role in strengthening local production capacity
		7.3 Summary points
	8. Capacity-building and the process of change
		8.1 The nature of capacity and capacity constraints
		8.2 Approaches to enhancing capacity
		8.3 The process of change
		8.4 Summary points
	9. Managing public-private roles
		9.1 Developing a strategy
		9.2 Monitoring and evaluation
		9.3 Unanswered questions
		9.4 Conclusions
	References
	Glossary
	Back Cover

2. Pharmaceutical markets: structure and performance

How is the pharmaceutical market organized and what makes it different from other markets?

Drugs are a special commodity. Used appropriately they can save lives and improve health; used inappropriately they can be harmful and even fatal. Drugs are not only costly inputs into health care services, but their availability tends to promote trust in those services. Although often self-prescribed and self-administered the reasons behind the efficacy of drugs remain a mystery to the average consumer. It is not surprising that the pharmaceutical market differs substantially from other markets.

This section describes and analyses the structure of pharmaceutical markets and identifies the key actors in them. It then explores the ways in which pharmaceutical markets differ, both from regular markets and also from health care markets.