About Us
The Pharmaceutical Policy & Outcomes Lab at UCLA is dedicated to improving the development, regulation, pricing, and use of medications—so that patients receive treatments that are both effective and affordable. Our work sits at the intersection of health policy, clinical medicine, and law. We generate rigorous and actionable evidence to inform legislators, regulators, payers, prescribers, and patients.
What We Do
Our research focuses on all aspects of the pharmaceutical lifecycle—from innovation and drug discovery to approval and post-marketing surveillance. Key areas include:
- Drug pricing, regulation and affordability: We study how pharmaceutical pricing, insurance design and regulatory policies shape access to prescription medications.
- Pharmaceutical innovation and patents: We investigate the role of pharmaceutical patents in promoting innovation and examine how market exclusivity periods can delay generic and biosimilar competition.
- Medication prescribing and real-world evidence: We use longitudinal healthcare data to examine patterns of medication use and generate real-world evidence comparing the effectiveness and safety of different therapies to improve patient care.
- Policy reform: We develop evidence-based policy ideas aimed at improving access to high quality care while reducing healthcare costs.
Our Approach
We prioritize research that is:
- Policy-relevant: Designed to inform active debates in pharmaceutical policy
- Methodologically rigorous: Leveraging high-quality data and state-of-the-art quantitative methods
- Interdisciplinary: Developed in collaboration with physicians, lawyers, policy experts, epidemiologists, and biostatisticians
- Timely and translational: Communicating findings to both academic and lay audiences
Training and Mentorship
The lab is committed to training the next generation of researchers and health policy scholars. Trainees gain hands-on experience in study design, data analysis, and scientific communication, paving the way for careers in academia, government, and the non-profit sector.
Impact
Our work has appeared in leading medical and health policy journals and has contributed to policymaking at both the state and federal levels. A core principle of the lab is that research should not stop at publication. We aim to engage with ongoing policy debates and communicate findings in ways that are accessible to policymakers and the public.