PHARMACOECONOMICS
Presentation
The goal of the course is to make students familiar with the basic and advanced issues
concerning the evaluation of healthcare and pharmacoeconomics.
As welfare systems of the developed countries set their healthcare delivery models to satisfy
more complex needs, the achievement of the economic affordability together with safety and
effectiveness of new medical technologies and programs becomes of paramount importance.
In this course students will be provided with theoretical and analytic tools to evaluate
healthcare by using cost benefit, cost effectiveness and cost utility approaches.
An important focus will be on the use of scientific evidences (i.e. clinical trials) as well as
administrative datasets to populate Bayesian decision models and to present information as
a useful support for decision makers.
Next to theoretical and analytic issues, the course will include a specific lab-based training
which will give students the basic practice to build cost effectiveness decision models on
Microsoft Excel.
The course is particularly fitting for students interested in:
- working for consulting;
- working in healthcare industries (i.e. pharma, medical devices) as Market Access or
Health Economics and Outcomes Research specialist;
- working in Healthcare bodies (i.e. Agencies for the pricing and reimbursement of
pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Health, HTA bodies);
- research on the field of health economics and Health Technology Assessment.
Classes consist of both lectures, discussions and case studies. The exam consist on the
presentation of a project work (a cost – effectiveness framework to evaluate a medical
technology on Microsoft Excel sheet) and a written exam
The evaluation for attending students will be structured as it follows:
• Class Participation (10%)
• Group work (25%)
• Written exam (65%)
General program:
- Introduction to the evaluation of healthcare;
- Cost effectiveness, cost utility and cost benefit frameworks;
- The use of scientific evidences to populate an economic evaluation (clinical trials,
literature reviews, metanalysis);
- The economic evaluations on the side of clinical trials;
- The economic evaluations on the side of a decision model;
- The Bayesian approach (probabilistic sensitivity analyses, expected value for perfect
information);
- The willingness-to-pay approach;
- Principles of outcomes research.
Instructor
Matteo Ruggeri (born in 1976) gained his first degree in Economics at the University of Rome
“Tor Vergata” in 2001 with a dissertation in Econometrics. In 2002 he gained a Msc in
Economics and in 2003 a MA in Business Engineering both at the University of Rome “Tor
Vergata”. In 2004 he was visiting scholar at the Thomas Jefferson University (PA-U.S.A.) and
in 2005 at the University of Aberdeen and at the University of York (UK). In 2006 he gained a
Phd in Health Economics at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (UCSC). Since 2007 he
was lecturer in Health Economics and Pharmacoeconomics at UCSC where is actually
Assistant Professor of Economic Policy (SSD-SECS P02). He is Chief of Health Economics
research at ALTEMS (UCSC Graduate School in Health Economics and Management) and at
Ce.Ri.S.Ma.S (Center for research in healthcare - UCSC) and he teaches several graduate
courses in Health Economics and Pharmacoeconomics. His research interests focus on
Experimental Economics, econometrics and decision modeling in the field of healthcare and
Health Technology Assessment. He participates in several research projects both funded by
industry and national and international institutions (Italian Ministry of Health, Italian health
authorities and EU commission). He is member of the Project Management Team of the FP7EU funded research project “MUNROS” on the new professional roles in the EU healthcare
systems. He has published approximately 50 papers on peer reviewed journals including top
health economics journals (Journal of Health Economics, Health Policy, Value in Health). He
frequently participates in international conferences of economics and health economics. He is
member of several scientific and editorial boards and he serves as reviewer of many journals
including Value in Health, International Journal of Public Health, Health Risk and Society,
Journal of Health Economics. He holds the National Scientific Qualification (ASN) as
Associate Professor of Economic Policy. He is an auxiliary Officer (Lieutenant) of the Italian
Red Cross Military Corps. He is married with two children.