THE DRUG VALUE IN THE EUROPEAN PHARMACEUTICAL SYSTEM

European regulatory authorities (EMEA, European Commission) and/or nat ional pharmacological and medical decision-makers can utilise the drug value to help themselves to decide which drugs to define as really in novative instead of new, which regulations to implement, which drugs t o include on formularies, or which restrictions to enforce. As economi c research becomes widely accepted for pharmaceutical evaluation, it n eeds to utilise prospective rather than retrospective study design. An alyses conducted at the time of therapy have better access to patients and can obtain both more accurate information on consumption of resou rces and the impact of pharmacotherapy on non-monetary quality of life for patients, survival, comparative clinical effectiveness and econom ic outcomes within social health service or in wider economy. (C) 1998 The Italian Pharmacological Society.