A primer on dynamic optimization and optimal control in pharmacoeconomics

Abstract

Pharmacoeconomic analyses employ a wide range of techniques and methods to help societies allocate scarce health-care resources wisely, fairly, and efficiently. Techniques such as dynamic optimization and optimal control, however, have yet to be exploited by this field. Although control theory has a long history in mathematical biology and disease management, its application to economic costs in these disciplines has not yet been explored. Pharmacoeconomics therefore may offer a particularly promising starting point because of the emphasis this field places on the economic perspective. Although challenges may exist to implementing these techniques in practice (at least in some settings), there will nevertheless be value to considering the dynamic perspective these techniques offer, which requires thinking more critically about the optimal allocation of scare health-care resources over time. Therefore, our article serves as a primer to introduce this dynamic perspective from an economic standpoint within the context of two examples of treating of hyperlipidemia. © 2006, International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR).