Author: Avalon Health Economics LLC

1. What is an E-Cig? The “e-cig” is an electronic cigarette that is used to simulate the experience of smoking that has a cartridge with a heater that vaporizes liquid nicotine instead of burning tobacco. Having become a seemingly overnight sensation, governments in both Europe and the United States are struggling with how to regulate...

Noemi Kiss is a Senior Health Economist with Avalon. She recently earned her MSc in Health Economics from the University of York (United Kingdom). Prior to York, Ms. Kiss was a Health Economist at Oxford Outcomes, Ltd (and Oxford’s parent company ICON plc), from 2010-13. Click here to read her biosketch. In addition to her...

James Robinson joins Avalon Health Economics as a Director. Jamie is the Leonard D. Schaeffer Professor of Health Economics and Director of the Berkeley Center for Health Technology (BCHT) at the University of California at Berkeley. In addition to his role as Director at Avalon Health Economics, his professional activities include his roles as Senior...

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The high cost of adverse events has been estimated to be at least US$177 billion per year in the U.S., and prescription drugs overall have efficacy only approximately 50% of the time, representing a potential waste of approximately $350 billion of the worldwide $700 billion or more drug spending (Miller et al., 2011). The wide...

The Organic and natural food industry has boomed in the last few decades, moving from a small niche market to a $30 billion dollar industry. Across the United States, people are growing more concerned by the possibility that their food choices could negatively affect their health and are responding by buying more products with labels...

Avalon at ISPOR: John Schneider and Cara Scheibling will be attending the annual meeting of the International Society of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research in Montreal next week, June 1 through June 4. The title of this year’s meeting is “Examining the Role of Big Data in Health Care Decision Making.” If you’d like to meet,...

Avalon will be attending and presenting at the 6th Annual EuroMedtech conference in Linz, Austria, May 7-8. The topic will be on economic evaluation of devices and diagnostics through the product lifecycle. Economic evaluations of new devices and diagnostics should begin early, and should be adjusted and revised throughout the product lifecycle as better data...

Conjunctivitis is a common condition of the eye that occurs worldwide and affects all ages and social strata, affecting more than 2 percent of the population. It is caused by a variety of bacterial or viral pathogens but may also be caused by allergies, irritants or medications. Most types are self-limiting, but some may progress...

Heroin has a new face. According to statistics from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, it’s a white male in his 30s and 40s. Surprisingly, heroin use has grown in recent years, sounding alarms among community leaders, public health officials and law enforcement. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) National...