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Country versus pharmaceutical company interests for hepatitis C treatment

Roy Lothan1, Noa Gutman1, Dan Yamin2

  • 1Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, 69978, Tel Aviv, Israel.

Health Care Management Science
|August 24, 2022
PubMed

Insights

Pharmaceutical companies can increase Hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment revenue by offering quantity discounts, incentivizing countries to increase screening. Risk-sharing agreements benefit countries by linking payment to successful treatment outcomes.

Area of Science:

  • Hepatology
  • Health Economics
  • Game Theory

Background:

  • Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection causes significant global health and economic burdens.
  • Early-stage HCV is often asymptomatic, leading to delayed diagnosis and treatment.
  • Effective HCV treatments exist but are costly, posing accessibility challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To model the strategic interactions between pharmaceutical companies and countries regarding HCV treatment pricing and screening.
  • To analyze the economic utility for both parties under different pricing and reimbursement strategies.
  • To inform policy decisions for optimizing HCV screening and treatment strategies.

Main Methods:

  • Development of a game theory model involving a pharmaceutical company (PC) and a country.
  • Analytical framework to calculate player utilities based on pricing, screening, and treatment strategies.
  • Calibration of the model using detailed HCV data from Israel.

Main Results:

  • Pharmaceutical companies can achieve higher revenue through quantity discounts, which indirectly increase country-led screening.
  • Risk-sharing agreements, where payment is contingent on successful treatment, are advantageous for countries.
  • The study highlights the impact of pricing strategies on screening uptake and treatment accessibility.

Conclusions:

  • Policymakers should carefully evaluate pharmaceutical company offers for increased screening, whether direct or via volume-based discounts.
  • Risk-sharing models represent a viable strategy for countries to manage the costs of effective HCV treatments.
  • The game-theoretic approach is applicable to optimizing screening and treatment strategies in other healthcare contexts.

Keywords:
Cost-effectiveness analysisGame theoryHCV screeningHealthcare managementHepatitis C virusRisk-sharing agreements

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