Pharmaceutical Policy Research Group

Our objectives and research priorities

Our aim is to inform and influence pharmaceutical policy reforms through research, and to study the achievement of reforms’ objectives and expectations from perspectives central to them. We support long-term reform in the pharmaceutical sector with research evidence.

Our research priority is “Rational and sustainable medicine use in outpatient pharmacotherapy process“

Key themes are:

1. Pharmaceutical policy and rational pharmacotherapy

• Generic substitution and reference pricing, including substitution of biological medicines at community pharmacies
• Pharmacy services, including medication counselling, vaccination services, and pharmaceutical compounding
• Reimbursement of medicines and expensive medicines in the outpatient care
• Digital tools: Kanta services such as e-prescription, MyKanta, and cross-border prescription

2. Sustainable pharmacy: environmental and economic sustainability

• Environmental sustainability of medicines from the perspective of the general public, doctors, and pharmacy professionals
• Household pharmaceutical waste
• Environmental sustainability and sustainable development in the assessment of pharmaceutical prices and reimbursement
• Expensive pharmaceuticals in outpatient care, market entry and introduction of new cancer medicines

3. Patient involvement in the pharmacotherapy process and medication monitoring

• The patient’s view of the effectiveness of the pharmacotherapy process and the need for support in medicine use and follow-up
• Medication monitoring: the role of patients and professionals and cooperation
• Use of medications, including medication adherence and use of another person’s medications
• Medicines information, including media visibility of medicines and risk minimization materials

Our aim is to be a preferred partner for pharmaceutical policy research in Finland and internationally.

Cooperation and expertise

We conduct our research based on the principles of co-research, i.e., with patients from the design phase of the study onwards. We have a patient member in our research team. We conduct multidisciplinary research in broad collaboration with pharmaceutical stakeholders. National partners include Fimea, Kela, THL, STM, University of Tampere, University of Helsinki, Pirkanmaa wellbeing services county, several patient associations, and University Pharmacy research unit. International partners include Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL), ENABLE Adherence Network & Innovation Hub, University of Tarto, St. Elizabeth University of Health and Social Work in Bratislava, University of Malta, University of Leuven, University of Copenhagen ja Uppsala University.

Our research team has strong expertise in pharmaceutical systems and their regulated environment. We utilize social science research methods, including various survey and interview methods. We also carry out, for example, register research and different types of reviews. Our doctoral researchers are part of the Doctoral Programme in Drug Research.