Pharmacoeconomic evaluations comparison

Pharmacoeconomic evaluation of the treatment of schizophrenia in Germany a comparison of olanzapine and haloperidol. Poster presented at the 12th Congress of rhe European College of... 

The basic task of economic evaluation is to identify, measure, value, and compare the costs and consequences of the alternatives being considered. The two distinguishing characteristics of economic evaluation are as follows (1) Is there a comparison of two or more alternatives and (2) Are both costs and consequences of the alternatives examined A full economic evaluation encompasses both characteristics, whereas a partial economic evaluation addresses only one. Pharmacoeconomic evaluations conducted in today s health care settings may be either partial or full economic evaluations. 

The use of decision analysis can assist in conducting various economic evaluations, including CEA. Although not necessary for all pharmacoeconomic evaluations, decision analysis and decision trees may provide a solid backbone or platform for the decision at hand. Using a decision tree, treatment alternatives, outcomes, and probabilities may be presented graphically and may be reduced algebraically to a single value for comparison (i.e., cost-effectiveness ratio). 

Zotepine has been used in Japan and Germany for many years, but has only recently been marketed in the UK. Zotepine is referred to in two pharmacoeconomic publications (Byrom et al, 1998a, b), but no relevant data are provided. Two evaluations are apparently awaiting publication (Knoll, personal communication, 2001) one a 6-month comparison of zotepine and one a health-care model of outcomes associated with the use of zotepine and haloperidol. 

The objective of economic evaluations of health and social care interventions is to inform decision-makers about the relative costs and benefits to society of two or more methods of providing care. In the context of dementia these may be comparisons of different drug therapies (pharmacoeconomic... 

In recent years pharmacoeconomics has been used as a term to describe the identification, measurement and comparison of the costs and consequences of pharmaceutical products and services (Bootman et al 1996). As such, pharmacoeconomics focuses primarily on pharmaceuticals, and attempts to evaluate the economic and humanistic impact of drug therapy. Pharmacoeconomic tools are derived from a variety of sources, including the fields of economics and outcomes research. Quite often the pharmacoeconomist will bring to the development team skills and experience in quality of life, patient satisfaction and other patient-centered measures. Health economists and a pharmacoeco-nomists differ (while the terms are sometimes used interchangeably), in having stronger backgrounds in the theoretical and applied aspects of health economics, respectively. A researcher with solid... 

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