Highlighting the concept of pharmacoeconomics, the experts in the drug technology assessment area from India, US and Malaysia will brainstorm on the subject on October 13 at the Raghavendra Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (RIPER) at Anandapur in Andhra Pradesh.

The specialists will give suggestions and ideas on the spread of the concept in the International Conference organized on the subject by RIPER in association with International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR), IPA Community Pharmacy Division and Anatapur District Chemists & Druggists Association.

This is the first time India hosts an international seminar on pharmacoeconomics.

Briefing on the subject, the president elect of ISPOR-India AP Chapter, Dr Dixon Thomas said the international conference on pharmacoeconomics will put forth a demand that India should implement the guidelines of pharmacoeconomics issued by the international society. Regulators of several countries have issued guidelines for good research practices in pharmacoeconomics. But the guidelines issued by ISPOR are more specific, top ranking and internationally accepted, he said.

In the seminar, the experts from US, Malaysia and India will share their experiences in the corporate level, consultancy level and academic level with the professionals and students attending the conference as participants.

Dr Simu Thomas, Global Head, HE & OR Modelling, Novartis, USA will deliver on the subject “Overview of Pharmacoeconomics’ and Dr Soraya Azmi from Malaysia will talk on ‘Pharmacoeconomics in Malaysia.”

Dr Subodh Kandamuthan from Hyderabad will present a paper on ‘Pharmacoeconomics in drug procurement for Andhra Pradesh’. Dr Bhargava, registrar of Karnataka Pharmacy Council will speak on ‘Pharmacoeconomics & Inventory Management'. A separate panel discussion is also arranged on the subject in the end of the programme.

Dr Dixon Thomas, who is the Head of Department of Pharmacy Practice at the RIPER said, pharmacoeconomics is the scientific discipline that compares the value of one pharmaceutical drug or drug therapy to another. Technology assessment in health care is a multidisciplinary field of policy analysis that uses the best available scientific evidence on the medical, social, ethical, and economic implications of interventions used in health care.