28.2.2025
Doctoral thesis on the social effects of high-priced drugs in Finland
M.Sc. (Pharm.) Sara Rosenberg’s doctoral thesis in Pharmacy will be put forth for public defence at The Faculty of Science and Engineering at Åbo Akademi University.
The thesis is entitled Social Effects of High-Priced Drugs in the Finnish Context.
The public defence of the doctoral thesis takes place on Friday 7 March 2025, at 1PM in auditorium XXII, Agora, Vesilinnantie 3, Turku. You can also follow the defence online. Professor Sofia Kälvemark Sporrong, Uppsala university, Sweden, will serve as opponent and Professor Jessica Rosenholm, Åbo Akademi University, as custos.
Summary
Health expenditures are rising because of factors including aging populations, increased innovations and personalized treatment options. Individual drug prices of novel products keep pushing new limits. For example, drug therapies for the treatment of rare diseases called orphan drugs enter the market in price ranges of millions of euros. The high prices of these drugs affect patients and their families, decision-makers and other stakeholders such as community pharmacies. In addition to financial implications, high-priced drugs cause multiple ethical implications within societies with respect to e.g. accessibility, equitable resource allocation, scarce clinical data and subsequent uncertainties concerning drug effect. Over the past decades, despite many attempts in different contexts, it has proved difficult to achieve sustainability with respect to high-priced drugs. Hence, additional efforts are required, also in the Finnish context. The current thesis has investigated the social effects that high-priced drugs have in today’s Finland. The thesis attempts to increase contemporary understanding of the issues concerning high-priced drugs and suggest appropriate practice implications for the Finnish context based on the research results found.
Sara Rosenberg was born in 1979 in Vaasa. She can be reached by email sara.rosenberg@abo.fi.
The doctoral thesis can be read online through the Doria publication archive.
Click here for a press photo of the doctoral student.
Instructions for following the doctoral defence remotely:
To follow the defence, you need the Zoom software or the Google Chrome browser. You do not need to create a Zoom account to follow the defence. If you install the application, you participate by clicking on the meeting link, after which you should allow the link to open in the Zoom app.