[Evaluation of drugs: efficacy, applicability, effectiveness and efficiency]

Abstract

In view of rising costs of drugs and the limited budget, government, institutes, researchers, prescribers, pharmacists and pharmaceutical industries should have a standardized assessment system at their disposal on which to base their pharmacotherapeutic policy. Evaluation can be achieved in four successive steps, taking into account both therapeutical and financial aspects. The first two steps, determining efficacy and applicability, represent the current system of evaluating drugs before allowance to the market. Steps 3 and 4 describe the ways in which effectiveness and efficiency can be involved in the evaluation by means of (cost) effectiveness analysis. Achieving optimal results from this stepwise approach requires speedy acceptance of the currently available guidelines for effective and efficient research.