Audun Brendbekken is a PhD Candidate at the Bergen Centre for Ethics and Priority Setting (BCEPS), within the Department for Global Health and Primary Care. He is a medical doctor from the University of Bergen, holds a Bachelors degree in Economics and Administration from the Norwegian School of Economics, and is a UWC Atlantic College alumni. He also works as secretary to the Clinical Ethics Committee at Haukeland University Hospital. He was previously the editor of Paraplyen journal for the local doctor's union in Hordaland and Sogn og Fjordane. During his PhD, he has been a visiting researcher to Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, invited by Professor Stéphane Verguet. 

His PhD project concerns high-cost therapies and priority setting within a Norwegian context, with a focus on orphan drugs against rare diseases with a prevalence of <1:2000. The project applies both qualitative and quantitative methods in following orphan drugs from public deliberation to clinical rationing. Priority-setting is challenged by the high cost and long-term evidence uncertainty of orphan drugs. The aim is to gain knowledge on public preferences for orphan drugs and on the mechanisms for clinical rationing of orphan drugs. Findings will add to literature gaps and be relevant to clinicians, decision-makers, and patients.

He started working with BCEPS through the Research Track/PhD programme in 2019-2020, during his medical degree. As a Research Track/PhD student at BCEPS, he lead the national Research Track conference, Frampeik, in Bergen in 2020/2021. In 2020, he was invited as a researcher to follow e-lectures at Harvard School of Public Health. He is expected to finish his PhD by April 2026. 

Academic article

• Brendbekken, Audun; Houge, Gunnar Douzgos (2023). Sjeldne sykdommer, dyre medisiner og komplisert helseøkonomi. (external link)
• Brendbekken, Audun; Robberstad, Bjarne; Norheim, Ole Frithjof (2022). Public participation: healthcare rationing in the newspaper media. (external link)

See a complete overview of publications in Cristin.

High-cost therapies and priority setting: following orphan drugs from public deliberation to clinical rationing (University of Bergen, BCEPS, PhD project).

PhD employment period from September 2023 until April 2026. Main supervisor to the project is assistant professor Andrea Melberg. The project is co-supervised by professor Ole Frithjof Norheim at Harvard University and BCEPS, professor Gunnar D. Houge at the Department of Clinical Science and MD PhD Frode Lindemark at Haukeland University Hospital.