Bank supervision and corporate finance

The authors examine the impact of bank supervision on the financing obstacles faced by almost 5,000 corporations across 49 countries. They find that firms in countries with strong official supervisory agencies that directly monitor banks tend to face greater financing obstacles. Moreover, powerful official supervision tends to increase firm reliance on special connections and corruption in raising external finance, which is consistent with political and regulatory capture theories. Creating a supervisory agency that is independent of the government and banks mitigates the adverse consequences of powerful supervision. Finally, the authors find that bank supervisory agencies that force accurate information disclosure by banks and enhance private monitoring tend to ease the financing obstacles faced by firms.Banks&Banking Reform,Financial Intermediation,Labor Policies,Decentralization,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Financial Intermediation,National Governance,Banks&Banking Reform,Financial Crisis Management&Restructuring,Pharmaceuticals&Pharmacoeconomics

Hospice Palliative Home Care in Canada: A Progress Report

This report is a snapshot of hospice palliative home care services available to Canadians in 2008. The information refers only to hospice palliative care services provided in the home. Other settings where Canadians die -- in hospital, long-term care homes and hospices, and on the street -- are equally important but were not covered in this survey

Reviewing the Drivers and Challenges in RFID Implementation in the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain

Counterfeiting is a global phenomenon that poses a serious financial threat to the pharmaceutical industry and more importantly jeopardizes public safety and security. Different measures, including new laws and regulations, have been put in place to mitigate the threat and tighten control in the pharmaceuticals supply chain. However, it appears that the most promising countermeasure is track-and-trace technology such as electronic-pedigree (E-pedigree) with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. In this study we present a framework exploring the antecedents and consequences of RFID applications in the pharmaceutical supply chain. The framework proposes that counterfeiting and E-pedigree regulation will drive the implementation of RFID in the pharmaceutical supply chain, which in turn provides strategic and operational benefits that enable competitive advantage. Meanwhile, the implementation of RFID requires overcoming many operational, technical and financial challenges. The framework provides a springboard that future study can explore using empirical data

Outcome-based pricing for new pharmaceuticals via rebates

The price of new brand-name prescription drugs has been rising fast in the United States. For example, the Amgen cholesterol drug Repatha had an initial list price of $14,523 per year. Patients, even with insurance coverage, must pay out of pocket a significant portion of this price. The treatment might not be successful, and this possibility reduces risk-sensitive patients’ incentives to purchase the drug. The high price together with the chance of negative treatment outcomes may lead payers to deny coverage for the drug. Outcome-based pricing has been proposed as a way to reallocate the risks and improve both payer resource allocation and patient access to drugs. According to an outcome-based rebate contract between Amgen and Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare, if a patient on Repatha suffers a heart attack or a stroke, both patient and insurer are refunded the cost of the drug. We use a stylized model to analyze the effect of outcome-based pricing via rebates. Our model captures the interaction between heterogenous, price-sensitive, risk-sensitive patients who decide whether to purchase the drug; a payer deciding whether to provide coverage for the drug; and a price-setting pharmaceutical firm seeking to maximize expected profits. We find that, in many cases, a pharmaceutical firm and payer cannot simultaneously benefit from outcome-based pricing, and who will benefit is determined by the probability of treatment success. Outcome-based pricing thus appears unlikely to solve the issues of high drug prices and high payer expenditures. However, supplementing outcome-based pricing with a transfer payment from firm to payer can make payer and firm (but not necessarily the patients) better off than under uniform pricing when the drug has a low chance of success

After Heparin: Protecting Consumers From the Risks of Substandard and Counterfeit Drugs

Based on case studies, examines globalization and quality management trends in pharmaceutical manufacturing, barriers to Federal Drug Administration oversight, and the security of pharmaceutical distribution. Makes policy recommendations to ensure safety

Largest Mergers and Acquisitions by Corporations, 2006

[Excerpt] Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity has continued to increase, especially in each of the past three years. This report provides a listing of the largest M&A transactions worldwide (value equivalent to $2 billion or more) that were proposed during 2006. The report includes the dates on which transactions were completed and shows M&A deals that were still pending as of December 31, 2006, or that were not successful. These data have been drawn from publicly available sources and have not been otherwise verified by the Congressional Research Service. This report will not be updated

WHO special project for pharmaceuticals in Newly Independent States (NIS) : strategic approaches

The Special Project on Pharmaceuticals in the Newly Independent States (NIS), which includes all former USSR countries except the Baltic countries, was established within the WHO European Office (Copenhagen, Denmark) in 1993 to meet the specific needs of countries in transition from the soviet to the market-oriented economy.peer-reviewe

International Profiles of Health Care Systems

Compares the healthcare systems of Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States, including spending, use of health information technology, and coverage