Pharmacoeconomics: state of the art in 1997.

Economic evaluation of pharmaceutical products, or pharmacoeconomics, is a rapidly growing area of research. Pharmacoeconomic evaluation is important in helping clinicians and managers make choices about new pharmaceutical products and in helping patients obtain access to new medications. Over the last few years, the scientific rigor of this field has increased greatly. At the same time, new types of analysis, based on prospective data collection, have been developed. This article reviews the basic concept of pharmacoeconomics, the types of data available for economic evaluation, and the "state of the art" in pharmacoeconomics as reported in the medical literature.