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Pharmaceutical Drugs

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Although pharmaceutical drugs on the whole greatly improve patient outcomes and quality of life when used as prescribed, they are not without their complications. RAND research on pharmaceuticals examines their safety and effectiveness, relevant health economics issues, prescription drug abuse, challenges related to access and adherence, and pharmaceutical regulatory policy.

Report

Biosimilar Drugs May Reduce U.S. Health Spending by $54 Billion

Oct 23, 2017

Biologics are complex drugs used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, and other diseases. They accounted for 70 percent of the growth in U.S. prescription drug spending between 2010 and 2015. Biosimilar versions of biologics could cut health care costs by $54 billion over the next decade.
Journal Article

Risky Prescribing of Opioids Linked to More Fatal Overdoses and Other Deaths

Jun 18, 2018

When patients are prescribed opioids in risky ways, their chance of dying increases, and their odds of death go higher as the number of risky opioid prescriptions increases.

Explore Pharmaceutical Drugs

Commentary

Price-Fixing Case Reveals Vulnerability of Generic Drug Policies

A massive lawsuit filed by 44 states accuses 20 major drug makers of colluding for years to inflate prices on more than 100 generic drugs, including those to treat HIV, cancer, and depression. If true, the alleged behavior is not just a violation of antitrust law, but also a betrayal of the government policies that created and defended the entire generic drug industry.

Jul 15, 2019
Blog

Why Are Drug Prices So High in the United States?

Ezekiel J. Emanuel is vice provost for global initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania and chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy. In 2018, he delivered the Albert P. Williams Lecture on Health Policy at RAND, where he offered a framework for thinking about drug pricing.

May 3, 2019
Journal Article

Reducing High-Dose Opioid Prescribing: State-Level Morphine Equivalent Daily Dose Policies, 2007-2017

Morphine equivalent daily dose thresholds are a promising policy tool, but there is a lack of consensus about how to use the thresholds and what the threshold level should be.

Mar 22, 2019
Journal Article

Journal Article

Responsible E-Prescribing Needs E-Discontinuation

Adding e-discontinuation functionality has the potential to help reduce medication errors and take fuller advantage of e-prescribing technology. Prescribers need to be able to e-discontinue prescriptions, just as easily as they can e-prescribe them.

Mar 12, 2019
Journal Article

Journal Article

Physician Prescribing of Opioids to Patients at Increased Risk of Overdose From Benzodiazepine Use in the United States

New opioid prescriptions decreased among higher-risk patients who used benzodiazepines from 2010 to 2015, suggesting that the rapid increase in opioid-related deaths is primarily associated with factors other than physicians writing new opioid prescriptions.

Mar 1, 2019
Journal Article

Journal Article

Unveiling an 'Invisible Population': Health, Substance Use, Sexual Behavior, Culture, and Discrimination Among Urban American Indian/Alaska Native Adolescents in California

American Indian/Alaska Native adolescents in this study used alcohol or other drugs at rates similar to those found in national surveys and rates of risky sexual behavior were also comparable to national data.

Feb 28, 2019
Commentary

Opioids and a Crisis of Unintended Consequences

The pain medicine OxyContin was reformulated in 2010 to make it more difficult to crush or dissolve. But this had unintended consequences, including a rise in hepatitis C infections as drug abusers switched from taking OxyContin to injecting heroin.

Feb 20, 2019
Journal Article

Journal Article

Effect of Age on Opioid Prescribing, Overdose, and Mortality in Massachusetts, 2011 to 2015

Older age was the strongest predictor of undergoing potentially inappropriate prescribing (PIP) among individuals who were prescribed opioids. PIP was also associated with risk of adverse outcomes in both older and younger adults.

Jan 29, 2019
Report

RAND Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D Contract Star Ratings Technical Expert Panel October 30th 2018 Meeting

On October 30, 2018, the RAND Corporation convened a Technical Expert Panel (TEP) web meeting to gather input on analyses that could be conducted to further enhance the Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D Contract Star Ratings program.

Jan 18, 2019
Journal Article

Journal Article

Elusive Search for Effective Provider Interventions: A Systematic Review of Provider Interventions to Increase Adherence to Evidence-Based Treatment for Depression

Low quality of evidence and lack of replication of specific intervention strategies across studies limit conclusions that can be drawn from the existing research about the effectiveness of interventions to improve adherence to antidepressant medications.

Dec 20, 2018
Journal Article

Supply-Side Drug Policy in the Presence of Substitutes: Evidence from the Introduction of Abuse-Deterrent Opioids

The recent increase in heroin deaths is primarily fueled by the reformulation of OxyContin.

Oct 31, 2018
Report

Report

Effects of Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) for Opioid Use Disorder on Functional Outcomes: A Systematic Review

This systematic review synthesizes evidence on the effects of medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder on functional outcomes, including cognitive, physical, occupational, social/behavioral, and neurological function.

Oct 30, 2018
Multimedia

Albert P. Williams Lecture on Health Policy: What's the Fair Price of a Drug?

In this Events @ RAND podcast, Ezekiel J. Emanuel delivers the 2018 Albert P. Williams Lecture on Health Policy. Emanuel explains why drug prices are so high and proposes a policy solution.

Oct 17, 2018
Commentary

In Opioid Policy, One Size Does Not Fit All

To solve America's opioid crisis, policymakers will need to view the epidemic as an “ecosystem,” where policies that target only one part of the problem can have unintended consequences.

Oct 12, 2018
Journal Article

Nearly Thirty Percent of Physicians' Opioid Prescriptions Lack a Pain Diagnosis

Medical use of opioids has increased dramatically over the past two decades, far exceeding increases in the prevalence of pain. No pain diagnosis was recorded at 28.5 percent of physician visits in which an opioid was prescribed.

Sep 14, 2018
Infographic

Managing Pain with Alternative Therapies

About 126 million adults report having pain in the past three months. Alternative and integrative therapies, such as acupuncture, mindfulness (meditation), and Tai Chi, may help some individuals manage their pain. This infographic compiles information from hundreds of reviews of the evidence on the effect of these three therapies on different types of pain.

Aug 24, 2018
Report

Report

RAND Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D Contract Star Ratings Technical Expert Panel May 31st 2018 Meeting

On May 31, 2018, the RAND Corporation convened a Technical Expert Panel (TEP) to gather input on analyses that could be conducted to further enhance the Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D Contract Star Ratings program.

Aug 23, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

Evidence-Based Best Practices for Outpatient Management of Warfarin

Three recommendations to improve warfarin management at outpatient clinics are: measure your own performance, have a working registry, try to emulate the aspects of structure of care associated with higher time in therapeutic range (TTR).

Aug 22, 2018
Dissertation

Dissertation

Increasing Access to Medication-Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorders: Estimating Costs, Supply, and the Effects of Insurance Expansions

This dissertation measures access to buprenorphine, the fastest growing form of medication-assisted treatment, and the effects of demand side interventions aiming to tackle the opioid problem in America.

Aug 14, 2018

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RAND Topic:
Pharmaceutical Drugs

Topic Synonyms:
Medicinal Drugs

Research conducted by

RAND Health Care