Incentives to prove cost-benefit

WASHINGTON - Concerted efforts to induce companies to conduct rigorous pharmacoeconomic research on new products in addition to safety and efficacy studies have begun to emerge from industry and Capitol Hill.

Rep. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., calling for a "national campaign to discover the comparative effectiveness of medical technologies," is drafting legislation that would extend patent protection for companies that conduct FDA-approved studies comparing the clinical and pharmacoeconomic effectiveness of their new technologies to existing ones...