The Demand for Pharmaceuticals

Abstract Demand for pharmaceuticals, like the demand for other health care goods and services, is derived from the demand for health itself. Market demand, as distinct from the professionally determined concept of need, entails a desire and willingness to pay for a product or service. Demand for pharmaceuticals is unusual because it is determined by four parties: the consumer; the physician, who often serves as the consumer’s agent; insurers, who actually pay most of the cost of the drug that is purchased; and the pharmacist, who often decides which version of a drug to dispense, fills the prescription, and often provides the patient with health counseling and additional information on the drug’s action, administration, and side effects.