The Impact of Price Regulation on the Launch Delay of New Drugs - Evidence from Twenty-Five Major Markets in the 1990s

This study analyzes the effect of pharmaceutical price regulation on delays in new drug launches. Because low price in one market may 'spill-over' to others, though parallel trade and external referencing, manufacturers may rationally prefer longer delay or non-launch to accepting a low price. We use a Cox proportional hazard model to analyze the launch experience in 25 major markets of 85 new chemical entities (NCEs) launched in the UK or US between 1994 and 1998. There are 1,167 observed launches, or about 55% of the maximum. The US leads with 73 launches, followed by Germany (66) and the UK (64). Only 13 NCEs launched in Japan, 26 in Portugal and 28 in New Zealand. Countries with fewer launches also have longer average launch lags. The launch hazard is positively related to expected price and to expected volume, controlling for income per capita. The originator firm(s) characteristics, specifically, launch in home country and global experience, also significantly reduce launch delay. Within the EU, likely parallel export countries have the most negative effects. Our results suggest that countries with lower expected prices or smaller expected market size experience longer delays in new drug access, controlling for per capita income and other country and firm characteristics.

Au@Pt Dendrimer Encapsulated Nanoparticles As Model Electrocatalysts for Comparison of Experiment and Theory

In this paper we report the electrochemical synthesis of core@shell dendrimer-encapsulated nanoparticles (DENs) consisting of cores containing 147 Au atoms (Au-147) and Pt shells having similar to 54 or similar to 102 atoms (Au-147@Pt-n (n = 54 or 102)). The significance of this work arises from the correlation of the experimentally determined structural and electrocatalytic properties of these particles with density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Specifically, we describe an experimental and theoretical study of Pb underpotential deposition (UPD) on Au-147 DENs, the structure of both Au-147@Pb-n and Au-147@Pt-n DENs, and the activity of these DENs for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). DFT calculations show that Pb binding is stronger on the (100) facets of Au as compared to (111), and the calculated deposition and stripping potentials are consistent with those measured experimentally. Galvanic exchange is used to replace the surface Pb atoms with Pt, and a surface distortion is found for Au-147@Pt-n particles using molecular dynamics simulations in which the Pt-covered (100) facets shear into (111) diamond structures. DFT calculations of oxygen binding show that the distorted surfaces are the most active for the ORR, and that their activity is similar regardless of the Pt coverage. These calculations are consistent with rotating ring-disk voltammetry measurements.Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Office of Science, U. S. Department of Energy DE-FG02-09ER16090Robert A. Welch Foundation F-0032, F-1601Institute of Computational and Engineering Sciences at UT-AustinChemistr

Portfolio Implications of Apartment Investing

In this article, we examine the portfolio implications of apartment investing. In particular, we explore the sector’s relative stability, liquidity, and current market outlook. In general, we find support for many of the advantages attributed to apartments relative to other property types. The apartment sector has historically offered high risk-adjusted returns and a relatively low correlation with other property sectors. These features, combined with the attractive demographics and stable space market fundamentals, suggest that the current environment should be favorable for apartment investing. However, the popularity of the sector, aggressive rent growth assumptions, and potential limitations on future immigration provide sources of performance risk.

Laminar burning velocity measurement of hydrous methanol at elevated temperatures and pressures

Methanol is an important renewable energy source that absorbs water easily. The water can be present inadvertently or as a result of the manufacturing process. Although adding water into methanol will further improve the anti-knock rating for spark ignition engines, the burning velocity, flame stability and the flammability range will be reduced. The laminar burning velocity of methanol containing up to 40% water in volume (W0, W20 and W40) has been measured for a wide range of temperature (350-450 K), pressures (1-4 bar) and equivalence ratio (0.7-1.4) using a constant volume vessel and a schlieren imaging system. The experimental data using the pressure rise data (but excluding cellularity) have been fitted to a correlation with twelve coefficients. The laminar burning velocities for W0, W20 and W40 are 54 cm/s, 31 cm/s and 24 cm/s respectively for stoichiometric mixture at 2 bar and 400 K. Results showed a decrease in burning velocity with pressure and an increase with temperature. Water as a diluent led to reduction of the burning velocity. The correlated burning velocity data for methanol are in good agreement with published data. The cellularity occurred earlier as the initial mixture became rich, while a higher water fraction delayed the onset of cellularity

Minimum cost VRP with time-dependent speed data and congestion charge

A heuristic algorithm, called LANCOST, is introduced for vehicle routing and scheduling problems to minimize the total travel cost, where the total travel cost includes fuel cost, driver cost and congestion charge. The fuel cost required is influenced by the speed. The speed for a vehicle to travel along any road in the network varies according to the time of travel. The variation in speed is caused by congestion which is greatest during morning and evening rush hours. If a vehicle enters the congestion charge zone at any time, a fixed charge is applied. A benchmark dataset is designed to test the algorithm. The algorithm is also used to schedule a fleet of delivery vehicles operating in the London area

Minimizing CO2e emissions by setting a road toll

The main purpose of this paper is to develop a bi-level pricing model to minimize the CO2e emissions and the total travel time in a small road network. In the lower level of the model, it is assumed that users of the road network find a dynamic user equilibrium which minimises the total costs of those in the system. For the higher level of the model, different road toll strategies are applied in order to minimize the CO2e emissions. The model has been applied to an illustrative example. It shows the effects on traffic flows, revenues, total time and CO2e emissions for different numbers of servers collecting tolls and different pricing strategies over a morning peak traffic period. The results show that the CO2e emissions produced can be significantly affected by the number of servers and the type of toll strategy employed. The model is also used to find the best toll strategy when there is a constraint on the revenue that is required to be raised from the toll and how this affects the emissions produced. Further runs compare strategies to minimize the CO2e emissions with those that minimize total travel time in the road system. In the illustrative example, the results for minimizing CO2e emissions are shown to be similar to the results obtained from minimizing the total travel time