Pharmaceuticals
10 Results
- 11 Oct 2011
- Working Papers
US Healthcare Reform and the Pharmaceutical Industry
The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) will restructure the US health care market in the coming years. For the pharmaceutical industry, the ACA is likely to prove a mixed blessing. In this paper, Assistant Professor Arthur Daemmrich analyzes the political economy of health care, specifically concerning health care reform. He then considers how the ACA will affect the pharmaceutical sector, both quantitatively in terms of the size of the prescription drug market and qualitatively in terms of industry structure and competitive dynamics. Daemmrich also places the current reforms into historical context and describes the political negotiations that enabled passage of the ACA. Read More
- 22 Apr 2009
- Working Papers
Where is the Pharmacy to the World? International Regulatory Variation and Pharmaceutical Industry Location
The era of paternalistic medicine has passed, but the notion that patients can act as consumers and make appropriate decisions concerning medical treatment poses countervailing risks of its own. A better accommodation among key players needs to be struck to foster the safe use of pharmaceuticals, according to HBS professor Arthur Daemmrich. The "pharmacy to the world," once located at the intersection of Germany, Switzerland, and France, today is found in the United States. Studies of the industry have attributed this sustained competitive advantage to a variety of factors, including U.S. intellectual property policies, funding for biomedical research through the National Institutes of Health, the absence of government controls on drug prices, and the availability of venture capital and other factors that fostered the growth of the biotechnology industry. The data and analysis presented in this working paper, however speculative, are an initial step toward deepening the understanding of interrelationships between government regulation, patients' mobilization both as regulators and as consumers, and the functioning of the pharmaceutical industry. Read More
- 17 Jan 2008
- Working Papers
Competition in Modular Clusters
The last 20 years have witnessed the rise of disaggregated "clusters," "networks," or "ecosystems" of firms in a number of industries, including computers, telecommunications, and pharmaceuticals. In these clusters, different firms design and produce the various components of a complex artifact (such as the processor, peripherals, and software of a computer system), and different firms specialize in the various stages of a complex production process. This paper considers the pricing behavior and profitability of these so-called modular clusters. Baldwin and Woodard isolate the offsetting price effects in a model, and show how they might operate in large as well as in small clusters. Read More
- 05 Jul 2006
- Working Papers
Do Managers’ Heuristics Affect R&D Performance Volatility? A Simulation Informed by the Pharmaceutical Industry
Can the R&D process be managed to provide more certainty and success? The authors explore R&D performance volatility using the pharmaceutical industry as the model. The study looks at two types of heuristics that are commonly used to manage R&D project portfolios: (1) which products to start, and whether to continue or kill a product in development; (2) how resources should be allocated at each phase of development. By changing the heuristics used to make decisions at each stage of development, managers can decrease the amount of uncertainty and failure in the R&D process. Read More
- 22 Nov 2004
- Research & Ideas
Side Effects: The Case of Propecia
- 01 Dec 2003
- Research & Ideas