PHARMACOECONOMICS: A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF METHODOLOGIES, APPLICATIONS, AND ITS EVOLVING ROLE IN GLOBAL AND INDIAN HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS

Abstract

As modern healthcare systems encounter an era of unprecedented technological advancement alongside escalating costs, the discipline of pharmacoeconomics has become an essential pillar for sustainable policy and practice. Pharmacoeconomics, a specialized branch of health economics, provides a structured framework to evaluate the value of pharmaceutical products and services by meticulously balancing their costs against their clinical and humanistic benefits. This review explores the fundamental methodologies of pharmacoeconomic analysis—including Cost-Effectiveness, Cost-Minimization, Cost-Utility, and Cost-Benefit analyses—and examines their application across various disease states such as hypertension, diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis. Special attention is given to the Indian healthcare landscape, where pharmacoeconomic data is increasingly integrated into national pricing policies and universal health coverage schemes like Ayushman Bharat. Despite challenges related to data infrastructure and the digital divide in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), the integration of digital health data and artificial intelligence promises to refine these assessments for the future.