The example of collaboration amongst members of the pharmaceutical industry, academia and government in the development of the recently-approved human papillomavirus vaccine is used as a running theme throughout this book to demonstrate the full range of ethical and moral issues, as well as overall public health and commercial concerns that are often involved in decisions entailing cost-effectiveness analysis.

The ideas for this book came specifically from the Introduction to Pharmacoeconomics course developed and currently taught by Dr. Arnold for the Mount Sinai School of Medicine Master of Public Health program.  This book is meant to provide an introduction to the major concepts and principles of pharmacoeconomics and cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA), with particular emphasis on modeling, methodologies, and data sources and application to real world dilemmas.  Introductory, as well as advanced, readers will learn about the international use of pharmacoeconomics in drug regulation, drug approval and pricing.  They are also given examples of pharmacoeconomic models used to support these purposes in government, the pharmaceutical industry and health care settings (e.g., pharmacoeconomic analyses of a public health vaccination program).  In particular, the example of collaboration amongst members of the pharmaceutical industry, academia and government in the development of the recently-approved human papillomavirus vaccine is used as a running theme through the majority of the book to demonstrate the full range of ethical and moral issues, as well as overall public health and commercial concerns that are often involved in decisions entailing pharmacoeconomic issues.

These principles are being embodied, for example, in the much-discussed emphasis on comparative effectiveness and in guidances rendered by the U.K.'s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).  Pharmacogenomics, or the use of personalized medicine, will be combined with cost-effectiveness analyses to inform and improve healthcare decision-making.  Improved and cost-effective decisions, using the best available, evidence-based medicine, will require that both clinical and economic expertise, as epitomized in this book, be embraced - useful knowledge for healthcare decision-makers, students, researchers, and public health officials.

As stated in the American College of Physicians position paper published recently in the Annals of Internal Medicine, "given the as-yet uncontrolled explosion of health care costs, the de facto rationing produced by having 47 million uninsured patients denied access to health care [in the United States], and the limited resources of our society, the time has come for patients, physicians, insurers, and health care policymakers to explicitly and transparently factor the comparative effectiveness, comparative cost, and cost-effectiveness of both new and existing health care interventions into their decisions."