title: Cost-effectiveness of biological agents used in ulcerative colitis.
abstract: Ulcerative colitis (UC) produces bloody diarrhoea, severe abdominal pain, and need for clinic visits, hospitalizations, and surgeries. UC results in reduced health-related quality of life for patients and large direct medical and indirect costs for health systems and employers. Patients with the most severe disease require the most medical services, and these patients have larger costs than patients with mild or moderate disease. Despite biological therapies being quite expensive, they are indicated for patients unresponsive to initial standard therapies. Future hospitalizations may be reduced by starting a biological treatment. Cost-effectiveness results vary between countries, health systems, and model designs. Since restorative proctocolectomy can be curative, this surgery dominates biological therapy by being both less costly and more effective when measuring health system costs and patient quality-adjusted life years for 20 years. However the dose, duration, and effectiveness of biological treatments significantly impact estimates of their cost-effectiveness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy Practice & Science, University of Arizona College of Pharmacy, 1295 N Martin Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721-0202, USA; Section of Geriatrics, Internal Medicine & Palliative Medicine, University of Arizona College of Medicine, 1295 N Martin Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721-0202, USA. Electronic address: jlee@pharmacy.arizona.edu.
authors.forename: Jeannie K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Derek H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Lea
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mollon
authors.forename: Edward P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Armstrong
mesh_terms: D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000191:economics* / Q000601:surgery*; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D004470:Economics, Medical; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D016737:Proctocolectomy, Restorative / Q000191:economics*; D011788:Quality of Life; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years
keywords: Biologics; Cost; Cost-effectiveness; Ulcerative colitis