TY  - JOUR
AU  - Lichtenberg,Frank R.
AU  - Waldfogel,Joel
TI  - Does Misery Love Company? Evidence from pharmaceutical markets before and after the Orphan Drug Act
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 9750
PY  - 2003
Y2  - June 2003
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9750
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9750.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Frank R. Lichtenberg
Graduate School of Business
Columbia University
3022 Broadway, 614 Uris Hall
New York, NY  10027
Tel: 212/854-4408
Fax: 212/316-9219
E-Mail: frank.lichtenberg@columbia.edu

Joel Waldfogel
Business and Public Policy
University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School
1400 Steinberg Hall-Dietrich Hall
Philadelphia, PA  19104-6372
Tel: 215/898-7148
Fax: 215/898-7635
E-Mail: waldfogj@wharton.upenn.edu
AB  - With substantial fixed costs of drug development, more common conditions can support more products. If additional pharmaceutical products are beneficial, they will attract greater consumption and promote better health, e.g. greater longevity. We ask how market size    measured by condition prevalence affects consumption and longevity. We document in condition cross sections that both the tendency to use a drug and longevity are higher for individuals with more prevalent conditions. We also make use of the 1983 Orphan Drug Act (ODA), which promoted development of drugs for the treatment of rare conditions. Longevity and drug use have grown more quickly for persons with rare diseases and even more quickly for persons with conditions with substantial orphan drug use.
ER  -