Drugs in Context Health Economics & Outcomes Research welcomes a broad range of article types including original research, study protocols and review articles.
In line with the principle of providing context for healthcare professionals (HCPs) to properly inform and improve disease management in real world medicine, we especially encourage the submission of articles that provide context for trials of drug interventions in order to motivate improvements in disease management by HCPs practising medicine in the front line.
Original Research
The aim of this survey was to investigate satisfaction with, preference for, and adherence to lanthanum carbonate oral powder in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The authors concluded that patients with ESRD report increased satisfaction with and preference for lanthanum carbonate powder over other formulations, suggesting that lanthanum carbonate powder is more convenient and easier to use than other formulations.
Original Research
In this analysis the authors used health economics assessment data collected during the QUAlity of LIfe with AbiliFY Maintena (QUALIFY) study, a randomized head-to-head study of aripiprazole once-monthly 400 mg (AOM 400) compared with paliperidone palmitate (PP; 78–234 mg/mo), to determine the direct medical and pharmacy costs and the cost-effectiveness associated with each treatment over 6 months. The authors concluded that the analysis of data from stabilized patients with schizophrenia in the QUALIFY study indicated that AOM 400 is associated with lower health-care costs and greater effectiveness compared with PP and thus represents the economically dominant strategy.
Original Research
The model presented in this study was used to analyze the clinical and economic benefit of using combination therapies in advanced melanoma patients with the BRAF V600 mutation. The analysis suggests dabrafenib + trametinib therapy is associated with less patient time and lower costs relative to nivolumab + ipilimumab to gain similar progression-free survival and overall response rate benefits.
Original Research
Intra-articular injection of hyaluronic acid (HA) for knee osteoarthritis (OA) effectively reduces pain and delays total knee replacement (TKR) surgery; however, little is known about relative differences in clinical and cost outcomes among different HA products. In this study, the authors conclude that analysis of administrative claims data provides real-world evidence that meaningful differences exist among some HA products in disease-specific cost and time to knee replacement surgery.
Original Research
Schizophrenia is associated with high direct healthcare costs due to progression of disease and frequent occurrence of relapses. Aripiprazole once-monthly (AOM) has been shown to reduce total psychiatric hospitalizations among patients who switched from oral standard of care (SOC) therapy to AOM. In this paper the authors report the results of an economic model study to evaluate the psychiatric hospitalization-related medical costs and antipsychotic pharmacy costs during a 6-month period before and after initiation of AOM treatment.