IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/uea/ueaccp/2022_02.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Pricing of new pharmaceuticals and price regulation in India

Author

Listed:
  • Vasudha Wattal

    (Centre for Competition Policy and School of Economics, University of East Anglia)

Abstract

How does restricting a firm’s ability to raise prices in the future affect the introductory price of new products? This paper considers this question for new molecules launched in the Indian pharmaceutical market. The empirical results from the Indian market show higher launch prices for originators of chronic drugs that were introduced after the regulatory announcement. However, there appears no significant effect on competitor prices. I show that these findings align with a theoretical framework where originators of repeat purchase products increase introductory prices. While the originator secures a higher second period price, the competitor offers significant price cuts to capture new consumers. Overall, these results suggest that regulation delays welfare gains from new drugs, as initially more consumers are left out. The significance of this finding depends on the importance of these new introductions.

Suggested Citation

  • Vasudha Wattal, 2022. "Pricing of new pharmaceuticals and price regulation in India," Working Paper series, University of East Anglia, Centre for Competition Policy (CCP) 2022-02, Centre for Competition Policy, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    • Handle: RePEc:uea:ueaccp:2022_02
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ueaeco.github.io/working-papers/papers/ccp/CCP-22-02.pdf
    File Function: main text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ruiz-Aliseda, Francisco, 2016. "When do switching costs make markets more or less competitive?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 121-151.
    2. Ajay Bhaskarabhatla, 2018. "Regulating Pharmaceutical Prices in India," India Studies in Business and Economics, Springer, number 978-3-319-93393-1, December.
    3. Richard G. Frank & David S. Salkever, 1997. "Generic Entry and the Pricing of Pharmaceuticals," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(1), pages 75-90, March.
    4. Dubois, Pierre & Lasio, Laura, 2014. "Identifying Industry Margins with Unobserved Price Constraints: Structural Estimation on Pharmaceuticals," IDEI Working Papers 823, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse.
    5. Brekke, Kurt R. & Holmas, Tor Helge & Straume, Odd Rune, 2011. "Reference pricing, competition, and pharmaceutical expenditures: Theory and evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7), pages 624-638.
    6. Nina Pavcnik, 2002. "Do Pharmaceutical Prices Respond to Potential Patient Out-of-Pocket Expenses?," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 33(3), pages 469-487, Autumn.
    7. Pierre Dubois & Laura Lasio, 2018. "Identifying Industry Margins with Price Constraints: Structural Estimation on Pharmaceuticals," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(12), pages 3685-3724, December.
    8. Biglaiser, Gary & Crémer, Jacques & Dobos, Gergely, 2013. "The value of switching costs," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 148(3), pages 935-952.
    9. Gabszewicz, Jean & Pepall, Lynne & Thisse, Jacques-Francois, 1992. "Sequential Entry with Brand Loyalty Caused by Consumer Learning-by-Using," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(4), pages 397-416, December.
    10. Ali Shajarizadeh & Aidan Hollis, 2015. "Price‐cap Regulation, Uncertainty and the Price Evolution of New Pharmaceuticals," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(8), pages 966-977, August.
    11. Emma Boswell Dean, 2019. "Who Benefits from Pharmaceutical Price Controls? Evidence from India," Working Papers 509, Center for Global Development.
    12. Ridley, David B. & Zhang, Su, 2017. "Regulation of price increases," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 186-213.
    13. David B. Ridley & Chung-Ying Lee, 2020. "Does Medicare Reimbursement Drive Up Drug Launch Prices?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(5), pages 980-993, December.
    14. Mats Ekelund & Björn Persson, 2003. "Pharmaceutical Pricing in a Regulated Market," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(2), pages 298-306, May.
    15. Abbott, Thomas III, 1995. "Price regulation in the pharmaceutical industry: Prescription or placebo?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(5), pages 551-565, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kaiser, Ulrich & Mendez, Susan J. & Rønde, Thomas & Ullrich, Hannes, 2014. "Regulation of pharmaceutical prices: Evidence from a reference price reform in Denmark," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 174-187.
    2. Aljoscha Janssen, 2022. "Price dynamics of Swedish pharmaceuticals," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 313-351, December.
    3. Juan Pablo Atal & José Ignacio Cuesta & Felipe González & Cristóbal Otero, 2024. "The Economics of the Public Option: Evidence from Local Pharmaceutical Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 114(3), pages 615-644, March.
    4. Lam, W., 2015. "Switching Costs in Two-sided Markets," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2015024, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    5. Bergman , Mats A. & Granlund, David & Rudholm, Niklas, 2016. "Squeezing the last drop out of your suppliers: an empirical study of market-based purchasing policies for generic pharmaceuticals," Umeå Economic Studies 921, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    6. Callejas, Jerónimo & Mohapatra, Debi Prasad, 2021. "Welfare effects of public procurement of medicines: Evidence from Ecuador," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    7. Brekke, Kurt R. & Canta, Chiara & Straume, Odd Rune, 2016. "Reference pricing with endogenous generic entry," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 312-329.
    8. Kortelainen, Mika & Markkanen, Jaakko & Siikanen, Markku & Toivanen, Otto, 2023. "The Effects of Price Regulation on Pharmaceutical Expenditure and Availability," Working Papers 157, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    9. Atal, Juan Pablo & Cuesta, José Ignacio & Sæthre, Morten, 2018. "Quality Regulation and Competition: Evidence from Pharmaceutical Markets," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 20/2018, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    10. Mats A. Bergman & David Granlund & Niklas Rudholm, 2017. "Squeezing the Last Drop Out of Your Suppliers: An Empirical Study of Market-Based Purchasing Policies for Generic Pharmaceuticals," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 79(6), pages 969-996, December.
    11. Ali Shajarizadeh & Aidan Hollis, 2015. "Price‐cap Regulation, Uncertainty and the Price Evolution of New Pharmaceuticals," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(8), pages 966-977, August.
    12. David B. Ridley & Chung-Ying Lee, 2020. "Does Medicare Reimbursement Drive Up Drug Launch Prices?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(5), pages 980-993, December.
    13. Herr, A. & Suppliet, M., 2011. "Co-Payment Exemptions and Reference Prices: an Empirical Study of Pharmaceutical Prices in Germany," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 11/18, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    14. Clark, Robert & Fabiilli, Christopher & Lasio, Laura, 2022. "Collusion in the US generic drug industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    15. Herr, Annika & Stühmeier, Torben & Wenzel, Tobias, 2014. "Reference pricing and cost-sharing: Theory and evidence on German off-patent drugs," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100556, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    16. Susan J. Méndez, 2018. "Parallel trade of pharmaceuticals: The Danish market for statins," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(2), pages 333-356, February.
    17. Liu, Ya-Ming & Yang, Yea-Huei Kao & Hsieh, Chee-Ruey, 2012. "Regulation and competition in the Taiwanese pharmaceutical market under national health insurance," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 471-483.
    18. Bergman, Mats & Granlund, David & Rudholm, Niklas, 2016. "Squeezing the last drop out of your suppliers: an empirical study of market-based purchasing policies for generic pharmaceuticals," HUI Working Papers 116, HUI Research.
    19. repec:nip:nipewp:06/2015 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Kurt R. Brekke & Chiara Canta & Odd Rune StraumeAuthor-Email: o.r.straume@eeg.uminho.p, 2015. "Does Reference Pricing Drive Out Generic Competition in Pharmaceutical Markets? Evidence from a Policy Reform," NIPE Working Papers 6/2015, NIPE - Universidade do Minho.
    21. Izhak, Olena, 2019. "Extra costs of integrity: Pharmacy markups and generic substitution in Finland," DICE Discussion Papers 307, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    regulation; oligopoly; price setting; pharmaceuticals;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:uea:ueaccp:2022_02. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Juliette Hardmad (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/esueauk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.