Pharmacoeconomics from Theory to Practice.

Edited by R.J.G. Arnold. . 2010, pp. 243, £76.99, ISBN: 978-1-4200-8422-1. CRC Press / Taylor & Francis Group, Boca Raton, FL, USA.

As a running theme, the book explores the collaboration among members of the pharmaceutical industry, academia, and government in the development of the human papillomavirus vaccine to demonstrate the full range of ethical and moral issues, as well as overall public health and commercial concerns that are often involved in decisions entailing cost-effectiveness analysis. Readers will learn about the international use of pharmacoeconomics indrug regulation, drug approval, and pricing, and the book provides examples of pharmacoeconomic models used to support these purposes in government, the pharmaceutical industry, and healthcare settings.

In this era of finite budgets, healthcare rationing, medication shortages, and the global aging and burgeoning of populations, numerous stakeholders in the healthcare arena must understand the basic principles of pharmacoeconomics and how these may be correctly applied to facilitate drug development, drug approval, rationing, patient segmentation, disease management, and pricing model development. Focusing on how to save money, not by restricting access to necessary services, but by using available resources more efficiently and rationally, this volume arms decision makers with the tools they need to make wise choices in an area where the stakes are so high.