Project: Estados versus Farmacêuticas: Uma Análise Política das Reformas de Preços de Medicamentos (ASPIRIN)

Funding source: 2023 Call for Exploratory Research Projects in All Scientific Fields – €50,000 – Reference: 2023.13240.PEX (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology – FCT)

Participating Institutions: 

Universidade NOVA de Lisboa (Portugal)

Timeframe: February 1st, 2025 – July 31st, 2026 

Abstract: The unsustainable cost of medicines demands regulation, presenting a political dilemma between access and pricing. This political science project explores how decision-makers interpret and reform pricing policies in the face of pharmaceutical power. Given the prevailing tendency to maintain the status quo, successful reforms that lower prices are considered deviant cases. By analyzing five such deviant cases in Europe and the United States, using grounded theory and qualitative data, the study seeks to identify the key success factors and the role of political will, strategic choices, and implementation in advancing the common good.

Team members:
Catherine Moury