TY - JOUR
T1 - Analytics for vaccine economics and pricing
T2 - Insights and observations
AU - Robbins, Matthew J.
AU - Jacobson, Sheldon H.
N1 - Funding Information:
The advent of new vaccines results in a large, combinatorial number of possible vaccine formularies. TABLE 1 lists the vaccines (contract ending 31 March 2015) and prices acceptable for purchase by immunization programs that receive CDC immunization grant funds [12]. The large number of combination vaccines available provides a plethora of options, affording purchasers with different financial considerations more flexibility when selecting a set of vaccines. The challenge for state health departments, large city immunization programs, private practices and other vaccine purchasers is to select a vaccine formulary from this set of vaccines so as to cost–effectively satisfy RCIS.
Funding Information:
This research has been supported in part by the National Science Foundation (CMMI-1161458). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Informa UK, Ltd.
PY - 2015/4/1
Y1 - 2015/4/1
N2 - Pediatric immunization programs in the USA are a successful and cost-effective public health endeavor, profoundly reducing mortalities caused by infectious diseases. Two important issues relate to the success of the immunization programs, the selection of cost-effective vaccines and the appropriate pricing of vaccines. The recommended childhood immunization schedule, published annually by the CDC, continues to expand with respect to the number of injections required and the number of vaccines available for selection. The advent of new vaccines to meet the growing requirements of the schedule results: in a large, combinatorial number of possible vaccine formularies. The expansion of the schedule and the increase in the number of available vaccines constitutes a challenge for state health departments, large city immunization programs, private practices and other vaccine purchasers, as a cost-effective vaccine formulary must be selected from an increasingly large set of possible vaccine combinations to satisfy the schedule. The pediatric vaccine industry consists of a relatively small number of pharmaceutical firms engaged in the research, development, manufacture and distribution of pediatric vaccines. The number of vaccine manufacturers has dramatically decreased in the past few decades for a myriad of reasons, most notably due to low profitability. The contraction of the industry negatively impacts the reliable provision of pediatric vaccines. The determination of appropriate vaccine prices is an important issue and influences a vaccine manufacturer's decision to remain in the market. Operations research is a discipline that applies advanced analytical methods to improve decision making; analytics is the application of operations research to a particular problem using pertinent data to provide a practical result. Analytics provides a mechanism to resolve the challenges facing stakeholders in the vaccine development and delivery system, in particular, the selection of cost-effective vaccines and the appropriate pricing of vaccines. A review of applicable analytics papers is provided.
AB - Pediatric immunization programs in the USA are a successful and cost-effective public health endeavor, profoundly reducing mortalities caused by infectious diseases. Two important issues relate to the success of the immunization programs, the selection of cost-effective vaccines and the appropriate pricing of vaccines. The recommended childhood immunization schedule, published annually by the CDC, continues to expand with respect to the number of injections required and the number of vaccines available for selection. The advent of new vaccines to meet the growing requirements of the schedule results: in a large, combinatorial number of possible vaccine formularies. The expansion of the schedule and the increase in the number of available vaccines constitutes a challenge for state health departments, large city immunization programs, private practices and other vaccine purchasers, as a cost-effective vaccine formulary must be selected from an increasingly large set of possible vaccine combinations to satisfy the schedule. The pediatric vaccine industry consists of a relatively small number of pharmaceutical firms engaged in the research, development, manufacture and distribution of pediatric vaccines. The number of vaccine manufacturers has dramatically decreased in the past few decades for a myriad of reasons, most notably due to low profitability. The contraction of the industry negatively impacts the reliable provision of pediatric vaccines. The determination of appropriate vaccine prices is an important issue and influences a vaccine manufacturer's decision to remain in the market. Operations research is a discipline that applies advanced analytical methods to improve decision making; analytics is the application of operations research to a particular problem using pertinent data to provide a practical result. Analytics provides a mechanism to resolve the challenges facing stakeholders in the vaccine development and delivery system, in particular, the selection of cost-effective vaccines and the appropriate pricing of vaccines. A review of applicable analytics papers is provided.
KW - analytics
KW - operations research
KW - pediatric vaccines
KW - public health
KW - vaccine pricing
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84924353460&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84924353460&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1586/14760584.2015.985662
DO - 10.1586/14760584.2015.985662
M3 - Review article
C2 - 25435003
AN - SCOPUS:84924353460
SN - 1476-0584
VL - 14
SP - 605
EP - 616
JO - Expert review of vaccines
JF - Expert review of vaccines
IS - 4
ER -