Audun Brendbekken

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 is also the editor of Paraplyen journal for the local doctor's union in Hordaland and Sogn og Fjordane, published quarterly to 4300 subscribers. 

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.