The researchers in pharmacoeconomics should think of how best the benefits of nanotechnology can be used for obtaining maximum advantage to the people who use medicines for diseases, said Dr K Lal Kishore, vice chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh.

Delivering the inaugural speech at the Conference on Pharmacoeconomics organised by Raghavendra Institute of Pharmaceutical Education & Research (RIPER) at Anantapur, he said nanotechnology can bring revolutionary changes in the field of health sector and also in life sciences including drug delivery, diagnostics, nutraceuticals, etc.

He said the first pharmacy came in 1752 in Pennsylvania in US with limited facilities, but its growth and replication were rapid all over the world. Now the status of the pharmacies is unique and it has gained universal acclaim for the way it is operating. Industrialisation in India has helped for new drugs and for new operational system in the pharmacies. The next step to be taken by the health providers and the researchers in pharmaceutical sciences should be based on pharmacoeconomics, the new emerging area in the field.

Dr P S Bhagawan, the pharma expert and the registrar of Karnataka State Pharmacy Council, said pharmacoeconomics is a money saving exercise in pharmaceutical science. The pharmacist must know the basics of pharmacoeconomics as he is accountable for expenditure, wastage etc. The management of hospitals must also try to understand the principles of pharmacoeconomics, he opined.

Economical benefit deriving out of the use of a drug is the main point to be taken care of when the subject of pharmacoeconomics is discussed, said Dr Simu Thomas, Global Head, HE & OR Modelling, Novartis, USA. The healthcare providers, especially the government, must think of how to implement it at the earliest in order to benefit the people. Price, value, effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, budget-impact etc. have to be considered.

Dr Soraya Azmi, managing director of Azim Burhani Consultancy in Malaysia, said the government of Malaysia is thinking of implementing guidelines about pharmacoeconomics. She said, with the new concept the value of a medicine can be assessed. Since the government is the big buyer of drugs, it has to think of how best the drugs can be used for the patients out of the money they spend, she added.