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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

Alternative Financing Schemes May Be Needed to Pay for Expensive New Medications

Mar 11, 2015

In an era of $1,000-a-pill medications, a new approach may be needed to finance an emerging breed of highly expensive pharmaceuticals and vaccines. Health care could learn from other industries, where it is common for suppliers to encourage investment through approaches such as equipment leases or supplier-financed credit.
Report

Biosimilar Medications Could Create Billions in Health Care Savings

Nov 3, 2014

Introducing competing “biosimilar” versions of complex biologic drugs used to treat illnesses such as cancer and rheumatoid arthritis could cut spending on biologics in the United States by $44 billion over the next decade.

Explore Pharmaceutical Drugs

Journal Article

Journal Article

Addressing the Opioid Epidemic in the United States: Lessons from the Department of Veterans Affairs

Reflecting a comprehensive VA effort to improve pain management, in 2007 fewer veterans received high doses of opioids and more veterans received non-opioid pain therapies, naloxone, and treatment for substance use disorders.

Apr 26, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

Impact of Issuing Longer- Versus Shorter- Duration Prescriptions: A Systematic Review

UK recommendations to provide shorter prescriptions are not substantiated by the current evidence base.

Mar 14, 2018
Journal Article

Market Supply and the Opioid Crisis: Looking Back for a Path Forward

Abundant supply of opioids was one of the major causes of the opioid crisis. Broader supply-side policies that consider the full market, if coupled with effective treatment, are likely to be effective and resistant to substitution effects.

Mar 1, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

The Evaluation of Medical Inpatients Who Are Admitted on Long-term Opioid Therapy for Chronic Pain

Outpatient guidelines can help hospitalists evaluate inpatients on long-term opioid therapy, but more work is needed to help providers make decisions for inpatients that balance effective pain treatment and opioid risk reduction.

Feb 13, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

High-Risk Prescribing to Medicaid Enrollees Receiving Opioid Analgesics: Individual- and County-Level Factors

Among Medicaid recipients, high-risk prescribing of opioids occurred in 39.4% of episodes. Four characteristics -- Older age, rural county of residence, white race, and major depression diagnosis -- were associated with higher rates of all types of high-risk prescribing.

Jan 16, 2018
Journal Article

The Impact of Practice Guidelines on Opioid Utilization for Injured Workers

Guidelines designed to reduce the prescription of opioids following an injury did not reduce opioid use.

Dec 7, 2017
Journal Article

Journal Article

Exploring the Perils of Cross-national Comparisons of Drug Prevalence: The Effect of Survey Modality

The methods of contacting respondents and the technology for questioning respondents in household surveys complicate cross-country comparisons of drug prevalence.

Nov 21, 2017
Journal Article

Journal Article

Cleaning Up Medical Research

Book review of "Rigor Mortis: How Sloppy Science Creates Worthless Cures, Crushes Hope, and Wastes Billions" by Richard Harris.

Nov 10, 2017
Journal Article

Prescribing Patterns of Buprenorphine Waivered Physicians

Most buprenorphine prescribers treat many fewer patients than allowed by the current patient limit. Increasing the limit above 100 would likely improve access only for patients of a few high prescribers.

Nov 7, 2017
Journal Article

Journal Article

Text Messaging for Improving Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence: No Effects After 1 Year in a Randomized Controlled Trial Among Adolescents and Young Adults

Short text reminders to HIV-positive young adults in Uganda did not improve their adherence to antiretroviral therapy regimens, in contrast to prior interventions that used reminder messages.

Nov 2, 2017
News Release

News Release

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

Introducing “biosimilar” versions of complex biologic drugs used to treat illnesses such as cancer and rheumatoid arthritis could cut health care spending in the United States by $54 billion over the next decade.

Oct 23, 2017
Report

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

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.

Oct 23, 2017
Report

Improving Care for Schizophrenic Patients Through Personalized Treatment

Access to information on a patient's antipsychotic plasma levels—the amount of drug circulating in the patient's blood—can reduce prescriber uncertainty, resulting in better care and outcomes for schizophrenia patients.

Sep 28, 2017
Journal Article

Journal Article

Simulated Effects of Policies to Reduce Diabetes Risk Among Adults With Schizophrenia Receiving Antipsychotics

Policies to promote early diabetes detection among Medicaid patients receiving antipsychotic medication could reduce the rate of diabetes over ten years, but would likely require higher spending.

Sep 28, 2017
Journal Article

Association of Reference Pricing with Drug Selection and Spending

Over an 18 month period, reference pricing for drugs was associated with a reduction in employer spending of $1.34 million but an out-of-pocket spending increase of $0.12 million for employees.

Sep 28, 2017
Journal Article

Journal Article

A Mixed-Methods Evaluation of an Integrated Medication Management Program and Implications for Implementation

Organizational and environmental factors-such as funding mechanisms-were key to the successful implementation and uptake of a Medication Management Therapy program.

Aug 2, 2017
Journal Article

Journal Article

Using the Electronic Health Record to Understand and Minimize Overuse

Electronic health records represent a key opportunity to address overuse and the high costs of care and to realize benefit from one of the country's major health care investments.

Jul 19, 2017
Report

Report

Modeling the Economic Impact of a California Workers' Compensation Formulary

This report estimates the potential impacts of a California Workers' Compensation formulary in terms of changes in prescription drug use and spending and discusses the potential broader impacts of these changes on the California economy.

Jul 17, 2017
Journal Article

Journal Article

Impact of Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) on Opioid Utilization Among Medicare Beneficiaries in 10 U.S. States

Implementation of a prescription drug monitoring program in 10 states was associated with a reduction in overall volume of opioid drugs prescribed.

Jun 14, 2017
Journal Article

Journal Article

The Role of Antipsychotic Plasma Levels in the Treatment of Schizophrenia

Antipsychotic plasma levels may be used to guide the management of patients with schizophrenia who exhibit poor response or poor tolerance.

Jun 12, 2017

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RAND Topic:
Pharmaceutical Drugs

Topic Synonyms:
Medicinal Drugs

Research conducted by

RAND Health