A novel approach to boost drug development in paediatric oncology - Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, August 2023
Daems, S., Stevens, H., Dewatripont, M., Eichler, H-G., Goldman, M.
Despite major advances in cancer research, we are falling short in bringing innovative medicines to children with cancer. We propose a new business model to incentivize investors, private companies and public organizations to invest in drug development for paediatric cancers.

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Quel statut juridique et quelles missions pour des EHPAD à visage humain? - Revue d’économie financière, 2023
Dewatripont M.


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A new Pharma industrial policy for Europe? Lessons from COVID-19 - «in S. Tagliapietra and R. Veugelers (eds), Sparking Europe’s New Revolution: A Policy for Net Zero, Growth and Resilience, Bruegel Blueprint 33, 2023 »

Dewatripont M.
This chapter draws out lessons for industrial policy in the European Union from the COVID-19 vaccine experience. It reviews the process of development of safe and efficient vaccines and the issue of vaccine procurement.

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The Morality of Markets - Journal of Political Economy, Forthcoming 2024
Dewatripont M., Tirole J.

Scholars and civil society have argued that competition erodes supplier morality. This paper establishes a robust irrelevance result, whereby intense market competition does not crowd out consequentialist ethics; it thereby issues a strong warning against the wholesale moral condemnation of markets and pro-competitive institutions. Intense competition, while not altering the behavior of profitable suppliers, however may reduce the standards of highly ethical suppliers or not-for-profits, raising the potential need to protect the latter in the marketplace.

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The Safety of Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines: Vigilance Is Still Required - Journal of Clinical Medicine, February 2022
Goldman M.


The opinion I put forward in this paper is that attention must continue to be paid to clinical observations compatible with a detrimental effect of anti-SARS-CoV-2 in certain diseases of immunological nature. Using the example of the atypical thrombocytopenic thromboses caused by adenoviral-vector-based vaccines, I argue that usual post-marketing pharmacovigilance programs may fail in identifying very rare vaccine-related disorders. Since the robust protective immunity induced by mRNA vaccines is related to their distinct capacity to induce strong stimulation of T follicular helper cells, I suggest that the safety of mRNA vaccines should be further assessed by appropriately designed epidemiological and mechanistic studies focusing on lymphoproliferative and autoimmune diseases in which T follicular helper cells were found to play a key role.

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Mums Go Online: Is the Internet Changing the Demand for Health Care? - The Review of Economics and Statistics, 2022
Amaral-Garcia S., Nardotto M., Propper C., Valletti T.
 
We study the effect of Internet diffusion on childbirth procedures performed in England between 2000 and 2011. We show that broadband Internet access increased caesarean sections (C-sections): mothers living in areas with better Internet access are 2.5% more likely to obtain a C-section. The effect is driven by first-time mothers who are 6% more likely to obtain a C-section. The increased C-section rate is not accompanied by changes in health care outcomes; thus health care costs increased with no corresponding medical benefits. We show evidence documenting the growing importance of the Internet as a source of health-related information.

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Evolving market boundaries and competition policy enforcement in the pharmaceutical industry - European Journal of Law and Economics, February 2023 
Siotis G., Ornaghi C., Castanheira M.
Competition investigations start with market definition, which establishes the perimeter of the competitive analysis. In this paper, we focus on the definition of economic markets in the pharmaceutical industry, where the entry of generics in different therapeutic areas provides a sequence of quasi-natural experiments involving a significant competitive shock for the originator producer. We show how generic entry modifies price and non-price competitive constraints over time, generatinge market-wide effects.

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TRIPS to Where? A Narrative Review of the Empirical Literature on Intellectual Property Licensing Models to Promote Global Diffusion of Essential Medicines Pharmaceutics, January 2022
Mermelstein S., Stevens H.

The recent Ebola and COVID-19 outbreaks highlight growing concerns regarding the use of TRIPS flexibilities and the limited success of voluntary mechanisms in promoting access to medicines in the Global South amidst health crises. This review aims at describing the state-of-the-art empirical research on IP-related options and voluntary mechanisms applied by emerging PPPs to guarantee timely and affordable access to EM in LMICs and reflect on both models as access paradigms. Some suggestions are put forward for future research paths on the basis of these analyses and in response to contemporary debates on waiving key IP rights on COVID-19 therapies, diagnostics, and vaccines.

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L’intelligence collective au service des patients, Pharmaceutiques, December 2021
Goldman M.
«C’est un grand monsieur de la science. » Et ce n’est autre que le professeur d’immunologie Alain Fischer, président du Conseil d’orientation de la stratégie vaccinale en France, qui le dit. Médecin de formation, Michel Goldman a vu naître sa vocation dès l’enfance, au fil d’un quotidien rythmé par les consultations de son père, médecin généraliste, au domicile familial. Ce qui n’a pas empêché “Monsieur IMI” de bifurquer vers d’autres directions en présidant aux destinées de deux grandes institutions. Malgré sa “retraite” académique de l’ULB en 2020, Michel Goldman reste actif sur plusieurs fronts, particulièrement celui de la pandémie.

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Prioritization of Surgery in Cancer Patients During the COVID-19, Pandemic Annals of Surgery, November 2021
Donckier V., Estache A., Liberale G., Goldman M.
The prioritization of surgical oncology over other elective interventions during COVID-19 has failed to preserve the quality of care in oncology and will likely lead to an increase of cancer-related mortality in the coming years. We propose five components for systems to improve the organization of surgical oncology during future crises, namely (1) a multidisciplinary governance structure employing predictive models and risk/benefit evaluations, (2) predefined quality objectives based on measurable markers (regularly reviewed and adapted), (3) temporary flexibility in therapeutic algorithms and authorization procedures (with associated safeguards), (4) systems to ensure access to transparent, apolitical information, and (5) explicit, dedicated logistical surgical capacities to optimize coordination and resource allocation.

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Covid vaccination experiences, Centre for Economic Policy Research, October 2021
Dewatripont M.

The approval of several effective covid vaccines in record time shifted the emphasis in rich countries away from availability and the logistics of delivery to the issue of vaccine hesitancy. This column looks at vaccination rates across countries, with a special focus on the French experience. It finds that the introduction of a ‘corona pass’ had a much greater impact on France’s vaccination rate than it did in some other countries, possibly in part due to the way it was announced by President Macron.

Link to the publication (Summary available on VoxEU)

Of Mice and Academics: Examining the Effect of Openness on Innovation, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2016, 8, pp. 212-52.
P. Aghion, J. Kolev, F. Murray & S. Stern, M. Dewatripont
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Benefit Corporation: A Path to Affordable Gene Therapies?, Nature Medicine, 2019, 25, pp. 1813-1814.
A. Fischer, M. Goldman, M Dewatripont
With the growing number of efficient gene therapies on the market, now is the time to take actions to ensure reasonable pricing of gene therapy products. Among these, we propose to incentivize gene therapy companies to adopt a status that translates their corporate social responsibility into concrete commitments.

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L’innovation thérapeutique, à quel prix ?, Médecine/Sciences 2020, 36, pp. 389 – 393.
A. Fischer, M. Goldman, M Dewatripont
Comment préserver l’accessibilité aux nouveaux médicaments pour tous les patients qui en ont besoin ? La question se pose à la lumière des prix exorbitants auxquels les thérapies géniques, mais aussi les biothérapies et de nouvelles molécules chimiques, sont commercialisées. 

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How to strengthen European industries’ leadership in vaccine research and innovation, Vox Eu column, September 1, 2020.
P. Aghion, S. Amaral-Garcia, M. Dewatripont and M. Goldman
While EU countries have been able to rely on a more resilient social model and a science-based approach in managing the Covid crisis more successfully so far than the US, Europe has fallen short in matching the US effort to incentivise Covid vaccine innovation. This is due to a lower level of financial investment and also an inability to ensure coordination across different (national and European) funding schemes. This column calls for the creation of a European equivalent to the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority to tackle these problems, thereby strengthening European industries' leadership in vaccine research and innovation.
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Preparing for a Responsible Lockdown Exit Strategy, Nature Medicine, 2020, 26, pp.643-644.
M. Gilbert, E. Muraille, J.-P. Platteau, M. Dewatripont and M. Goldman
In just a few weeks’ time, leaders across the globe will have to start making decisions about lifting lockdown policies, with considerable social, economic and political consequences. We propose a framework for what is arguably the most difficult health challenge that governments have faced since the beginning of this century: a responsible lockdown exit strategy.

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Vaccination Strategies in the Midst of an Epidemic, CEPR Policy Insight 110, 2021.
Dewatripont M.

A CEPR Policy Insight by Mathias Dewatripont discusses the myriad obstacles faced by European countries in their drive to vaccinate populations against Covid-19, and details the lessons – positive and negative – of the process so far. 

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Confirmed COVID-19 Cases per Economic Activity during Autumn Wave in Belgium, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2021, 18.
J. Verbeeck, G. Vandersmissen, J. Peeters, S. Klamer, S. Hancart, T. Lernout, L. Godderis, M. Dewatripont and G. Molenberghs
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Mis à jour le 7 mars 2024