An economic analysis of antiviral therapy in patients with advanced hepatitis C virus disease: still not there!

✍ Scribed by Angel Rubin; Marina Berenguer

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 70 KB
• Volume: 16
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1527-6465
• DOI: 10.1002/lt.22090

✦ Synopsis

Hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related liver disease is a major cause of chronic liver disease worldwide and is the most common indication in European and US liver transplant centers (see http://www.eltr.org and http:// www.unos.org). Simulation analyses have suggested that in developed countries, a gradual decline in the infected population is expected in the future, but because of the extended period between infection and the emergence of complications, the burden associated with HCV infection will continue to rise, with a 2-to 4fold increase in the proportion of patients with cirrhosis in the next 20 years resulting in an increase in mortality from liver failure and/or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) 1,2 as well as an increase in the demand for liver transplantation.

In developed countries, the incorporation of increasingly innovative healthcare technologies and therapies has given rise to a significant increase in costs; in fact, technically possible strategies may not be acceptable from an economic point of view. It is hence essential to decide the best way to spend the limited resources that we have. Pharmacoeconomics refers to the scientific discipline that identifies monetary dimensions, attributes them to health interventions, and compares the values of these interventions. In order to do so, it mainly uses cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analyses. The main information sources for cost-effectiveness analyses are clinical trials and meta-analyses; unfortunately, the follow-up time is