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Dissertation
Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research

Essays on Technology Change in Health Care and Pharmaceutical Markets

Technological change in health care and pharmaceu-tical markets has been an important driver of progress in human health. An important aspect in health care is the development of new medical treatments, which depends critically on research and development (R&D) financing as well as on information flows between science and the pharmaceutical industry. The dissertation focuses on the impact of public policy on the rate and direction of innovation in these markets. The first part of the research agenda investigates the role of Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) in the EU. The implementation of these rights has introduced considerable variation in effective market exclusivity periods of new drugs. SPCs are supposed to compensate drug developers for the lengthy drug development period and should thus give relatively higher R&D incentives for treatments of diseases which typically require relatively long clinical trials. The thesis presents an empirical analysis whether the introduction of SPCs has shifted R&D investments towards these diseases. The second part of the dissertation addresses the question whether scientists change the rate and direction of their research when facing restrictions on important research resources. Exploiting an unforeseen supply shock for research materials in 1989, the thesis explores empirically whether scientists delayed their research or changed their research focus. The thesis also presents an analysis whether exogenous impediments to science have a long-term impact on applied research, i. e., the extent of drug development.

Persons

Doctoral Student

Dennis Byrski

Doctoral Supervisor

Prof. Dietmar Harhoff, Ph.D.

Fields of Research