David Tordrup

Institute:
Function: Professional PhD

Class off:

2014

Current affiliation:

Triangulate Health Ltd

Motivation:

My primary interest is in understanding how the private sector can be encouraged and incentivised to provide health solutions where there are currently market failures or unexplored opportunities.

Education and experience:

David Tordrup is Associate Director of HCD Economics, a UK-based technical health economics consultancy, where he manages and develops the portfolio of multilateral and 3rd sector work. David was previously a Research Fellow in Health Economics at the World Health Organization Representation to the EU in Brussels, where he managed and implemented the Research Agenda for Health Economic Evaluation project in collaboration with the European Commission, OECD Health and leading European academics. Prior to joining WHO, David was a Research Officer at the London School of Economics, where he worked on Health Technology Assessment of high-cost technologies and on the financial sustainability of health systems. He initially trained in life sciences (BSc, MSc molecular biology) and subsequently in health economics (MSc) at the LSE and LSHTM. David’s research interests are focused around access to medicines from a variety of perspectives, including in low-middle income countries, and for patients with rare or neglected diseases.

Title PhD project:

The role of tiered pricing in access to medicines in low-middle income countries.

PhD project description:

Although there are many factors affecting access to medicines in low-middle income countries, appropriate pricing is a key issue, both between countries with different abilities to pay, and between socioeconomic groups within countries. Several multilateral and philanthropic initiatives seek to improve access to certain medicines, but such provisions cannot continue indefinitely and there is a need to develop market-based mechanisms that ensure future supply. Tiered pricing (price discrimination, equity pricing) is an economic approach in which prices are set according to the ability of different population segments to pay. Tiered pricing for pharmaceuticals is one potential mechanism for making particularly newer, patented medicines available in low-middle income countries, but has been given little attention in the scientific literature, with discourse often tainted by partisan views. The present project aims to outline the business case for tiered pricing in low-middle income countries for patented technologies, while estimating the potential impact such an approach could have on access to medicines. The project invokes economic theory, legal aspects (incl. parallel trade issues, Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights [TRIPS] and licensing), industrial policy and health policy research to this end.

Teammembers and other people involved:

World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), NICE International

Publications:

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