This article reviews the basic concept of economic evaluation of health technology, the type of data available for economic evaluation, and the “state of the art “ as reported in the medical literature. The desire for economic evaluation of clinical trials has led to the development of a new discipline. Methodological work in the field has developed rapidly in the last decade. As reviewed in this paper, the data -based either on sophisticated decision-analytic models, or, increasingly, on prospective data collection within clinical trials- are improving our understanding of the cost and benefits of health technology. These data are increasingly important to clinicians and health policy decision-makers as they struggle to determine the most appropriate uses of limited health resources. The methods of economic assessment of new pharmaceutical products are increasing in sophistication at a rapid pace. In large part, this development is stimulated by the analytic challenges posed by assessing pharmacoeconomic data colleted prospectively in clinical trials. In Colombia, the research over these subjects, the efforts will have to be oriented toward the future, being necessary, also, the consolidation in the country of an academic community in the area.