Dr Joseph Zammit-Lucia is the co-author of the CNE Health report, "Economic Analysis and the funding of Pharmaceutical Products." The report finds that most rationing agencies use 'economic analysis' as one of their key decision-making tools.

Economic analysis (a process which compares the costs and consequences of alternative treatments for a given condition) is promoted as a rational, scientific means of allocating resources and containing costs. But in reality it is, as the report argues, little more than a "spurious justification" for rationing drugs that would have a significant impact on spending.

Copies of the report will be available at the seminar. Dr Zammit-Lucia will discuss alternatives to the existing crude rationing regime.

Dr Joseph Zammit-Lucia is a founder-director of Cambridge Pharma Consultancy, one of the largest pharmaceutical consultancies in the world and is acknowledged as one of the international leaders in the field of pharmaceutical economics.