Pricing competition

Economic coaditioas ia the United States have not favored the production of EPC and EPI having desirable functional and nutritional characteristics at prices competitive with those of conventional protein sources. 

Diesters have been produced primarily by esterification of a C -branched-chain alcohol with adipic (C ), a2elaic (C ), or sebacic (C q) diacid. Di(2-ethylhexyl)sebacate [122-62-3] was quite generally used in military greases and MIL-L-7808 jet engine oil, but more recent demands and price competition have led to use of a variety of diesters. 

Several utility-scale demonstration facilities having power outputs in the 300-MW class have been constmcted in the United States and Europe. These started accumulating operating experience in 1995 and 1996. Other IGCC plants have been constmcted, including units fueled by petroleum coke and refinery bottoms. Advanced 500-MW class IGCC plants based around the latest heavy-duty combustion turbines are expected to be priced competitively with new pulverized-coal-fined plants utilising scmbbers. 

Minimills and other EAF plants ate expanding iato flat-roUed steel products which, by some estimates, requite 50—75% low residual scrap or alternative raw material. Up to 16 million t of new capacity are expected to be added ia the United States between 1994 and 2000 (18). Developments ia other parts of the world also impact scrap use and supply. Possible scrap deficiencies of several million tons have been projected for EAFs ia East Asia and ia parts of Europe. This puts additional strains on the total scrap supply, particularly low residual scrap (19,20). The question of adequate supply of low residual scrap is always a controversial one. Some analysts see serious global shortages ia the first decade of the twenty-first century others are convinced that the scrap iadustry has the capabiUty to produce scrap ia the quantities and quaUty to meet foreseeable demand. This uncertainty ia combination with high scrap prices has led to iacreased use of scrap alternatives where the latter is price competitive with premium scrap. Use of pig iroa has iacreased ia EAF plants and mote capacity is being iastaHed for DRI and HBI outside the United States. 

Other expansions of FDA s authority include the Dmg Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, commonly known as the 1984 Amendments or the Waxman-Hatch Act, which was passed to attain quicker marketing of safe, effective, and less expensive generic dmgs and the Safe Medical Device Amendments of 1990, which was passed to correct perceived weaknesses in the implementation of the 1976 Device Amendments. Congress further expanded FDA authority over nutrition labeling and health and nutrient content claims on food labels with the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990. 

More than 60 percent of natural gas physically consumed in the course of a year is nevertheless attributable to purchases at lower, interruptible prices by industrial boilcr-fucl users and electrical generators that are capable of substituting natural gas in off-peak months, when gas is available at prices competitive with those of black fuels (coal and heavy fuel oil). In addition to these relatively low-value, pricc-scnsitivc industrial gas uses is a wide range of intermediate-value demand categories for natural gas, such as in process and feedstock use. 

Drug price competition and patent term restoration act of 1984, Public 98-417, 98 Stat. 1585-1605, Sept. 24, 1984. 

Reference pricing was not introduced in Spain until December 2000. The fact that it is applied exclusively to bio-equivalent products leads, in the opinion of the authors, to the assumption that its effect on expenditure is limited, as a major market share is acquired by recently introduced drugs. The level at which the reference price is fixed is an important factor. For non-patented products, price competition should push the price towards the marginal cost, and therefore a reference price that is clearly higher than the cheapest generic could actually become a barrier to price competition in this case. 

Patricia M. Danzon and Li-Wei Chao, Prices, Competition and Regulation in Pharmaceuticals A Cross-national Comparison, Office of Health Economics, June 2000, 84 pages. 

Wiggins, S.N. and R. Maness (1994), Price competition in pharmaceutical markets , unpublished document, Texas A M University. 

Mechanisms to encourage price competition in the pharmaceutical market and their effects on efficiency and welfare... 

In the following section of this chapter we analyse the various types of market structure that occur in the case of pharmaceuticals, and we review the different factors that can limit the functioning of price competition in this market on both the supply side and the demand side. Finally, we analyse possible forms of intervention, in particular mechanisms to encourage price competition in pharmaceutical markets, and discuss the extent to which they might improve efficiency and social welfare. 

In this context, policies tending to promote generics basically seek to eliminate or reduce product differentiation and encourage price competition. 

Table 5.1 Factors affecting price competition on the supply side and the demand side...

Table 5.1 sets out the factors that affect price competition on the demand side and the supply side that we have analysed above. 

Two mid-term objectives are closely related to the principal goal of RP. The first of them has to do with encouraging price competition, as it provides an incentive for companies to bring their prices close to the reference level. This is precisely one of the reasons why the European Commission5 recommends RP. The second mid-term objective concerns incentives, as it takes into account the cost-effectiveness ratio of prescription drags by increasing the financial responsibility of patients, which in turn may influence prescriber decisions. It is important to note that, unlike in traditional co-payment, under this system the patient s share of the cost of the product is avoidable if the patient and/or doctor select a product with a price that does not exceed the reference price. 

Drug metabolite production, microbial biotransformations for, 16 398-399 Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration, 15 686 Drug products... 

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