Abstract
Expenditures of health care systems are increasing from year to year. Therefore, this study aimed to estimate the difference in costs and benefits of innovative pharmaceuticals launched 2000 onward compared to standard treatment on the national economy of Switzerland in 2010. The approach and formula described in the pilot study by Tsiachristas et al. (1), which analyzed the situation of welfare effects in the Netherlands, served as a model for our own calculations. A literature search was performed to identify cost–utility or cost-effectiveness studies of drugs launched 2000 onward compared to standard treatment. All parameters required for the calculation of welfare effects were derived from these analyses. The base-case threshold value of a quality-adjusted life year was set to CHF 100,000. Overall, 31 drugs were included in the welfare calculations. The introduction of innovative pharmaceuticals since 2000 onward to the Swiss market led to a potential welfare gain of about CHF 781 million in the year 2010. Univariate sensitivity analysis showed that results were robust. Probably because of the higher benefits of new drugs on health and quality of life compared to standard treatment, these drugs are worth the higher costs. The literature search revealed that there is a lack of information about the effects of innovative pharmaceuticals on the overall economy of Switzerland. Our study showed that potential welfare gains in 2010 by introducing innovative pharmaceuticals to the Swiss market were substantial. Considering costs and benefits of new drugs is important.
Highlights
The expenditures of most health care systems, e.g., the US and several European health care systems [2] increased from year to year, the same is true for the Swiss health care system [3]
The outcome measure was expressed in QALYs or life years gained (LYG)
LITERATURE SEARCH Our search identified 175 citations found in PubMed, Cost-Effectiveness Analyses (CEA), and in Centre for Review and Dissemination (CRD)
Summary
The expenditures of most health care systems, e.g., the US and several European health care systems [2] increased from year to year, the same is true for the Swiss health care system [3]. New or innovative medicines are often more expensive than well-established drugs This supports the common opinion that the expenditures on drugs are too high and should be reduced. Suppose that the new drug reduces hospital length of stay or number of physician visits compared to the standard therapy [6] This could result in reduced resource use by the patient, which could save costs in patients’ care [7]. These additional benefits including externalities may outweigh the drug expenditures, and in the end we may generate welfare gains due to the prescription of new drugs. Others argument that over the past 50 years, the majority of new products (up to 90%) have provided only few benefits, and considerable harms that have added to national healthcare costs [13]
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