New drugs and the growth of health expenditure: evidence from diabetic patients in Taiwan

• Published in: Health economics Vol. 21; no. 5; pp. 496 - 513
• Main Authors: Liu, Ya-Ming, Hsieh, Chee-Ruey
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons Ltd 01.05.2012; Wiley-Blackwell; John Wiley & Sons, Ltd; Wiley Periodicals Inc
• Series: Health Economics
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Arzneimittel; Diabetes; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - drug therapy; Diabetics; Drug Costs; Drug industry; Drug Substitution - economics; Drugs; Female; Gesundheitskosten; Health; Health care expenditures; Health costs; Health economics; health expenditure; Health Expenditures - trends; Humans; Innovation; Innovations; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Medical treatment; Middle Aged; Models, Econometric; new drugs; Pharmaceuticals; Pharmakologie; Prescription drugs; Regression Analysis; Studies; Taiwan; Thiazolidinediones - economics; Thiazolidinediones - therapeutic use; treatment expansion; treatment substitution; Taiwan

SUMMARY This paper contributes to the growing body of literature that debates whether the adoption of pharmaceutical innovation increases the overall expenditure on health care. By examining data obtained from Taiwan and focusing on diabetic patients, we use a new class of drugs, namely, thiazolidin...