title: Willingness to pay for a new drug delivery in Parkinson patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The Swedish reimbursement system operates a system where prices are set based on the expected value to the consumer. This value can be measured using willingness to pay (WTP).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess Parkinson's disease (PD) patients' WTP for newly developed microtablets of levodopa in combination with a drug-delivering electronic device (M/E) compared to standard treatment with levodopa in combination with the COMT (catechol-O-methyl transferase)-inhibitor entacapone (L/e).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 2,000 randomly included PD patients had a postal questionnaire covering demographics, disease-specific issues, views on medication and WTP in different hypothetical scenarios. The first scenario was M/E with no change in effects or side effects; the second scenario was M/E with same effect and less side effects; and the third scenario was M/E with improved effect and less side effects. These scenarios were coupled to different costs to choose from.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 999 patients (50%) responded, mean age of 71 years and a mean PD duration of 9 years. Of all respondents, 50% preferred M/E before L/e in scenario one with increasing preference to scenario three. The average monthly WTP among all respondents in scenario one was SEK 230 and SEK 226 in L/e, both with an almost longitudinal doubling up to scenario three. Duration of PD-related symptoms, high education, and high medication intake implied a higher WTP in all scenarios in contrast to age, sex, and extra doses of levodopa.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  WTP for M/E increased gradually with high medication intake and education as well as with expected increased reduction of PD symptoms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden ; Geriatric Department, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lökk
authors.affiliation: The Swedish Institute for Health Economics, Institute for Health Economics (IHE), Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Olofsson
authors.affiliation: The Swedish Institute for Health Economics, Institute for Health Economics (IHE), Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ulf
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Persson
keywords: Parkinson’s disease; WTP; levodopa; microtablets