A one-year prospective costing study of botulinum toxin type A treatment of chronic tension headache

Abstract

The objective was to measure the cost of botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A) treatment of chronic tension-type headache. A prospective pharmaceutical costing analysis was completed in the Day Hospital of the Regional Referral Headache Centre at Sant'Andrea Hospital in Rome, chronic tension-type headache patients were treated from February 2003 to January 2004. Patients were treated with 100 U of BTX-A every three months for one year by using the Fixed Doses Fixed Sites procedure. The cost of treatment was based on drug acquisition costs, supplies and professional time needed to administer treatment. The average cost of conventional headache medications was € 853.43 before BTX-A treatment, and € 450.47 after. The cost of BTX-A treatment was € 642.00. Adding the cost of adjunctive conventional medications brought the total cost of BTX-A treatment to € 1092.47. BTX-A treatment reduced use of conventional headache medications and expenditures although the net cost of treatment increased with BTX-A use. © Springer-Verlag Italia 2004

Efficacy of Botulinum Toxin in Tension‐Type Headaches: A Systematic Review of the Literature

“…Using the other predefined exclusion criteria, we were left with 43 studies of which we reviewed the full text. Three were excluded due to being case series or a cost‐effectiveness study, or lacking differentiation between migraine and TTH when discussing patients with chronic daily headache in their cohort . The other excluded studies did not meet inclusion criteria as noted above.…”

Long-term benefits of botulinum toxin type A (BOTOX) in chronic daily headache: a five-year long experience

“…One year of in-hospital BoNT-A therapy amounts to €564.00 including pharmaceutical costs, consumable supplies and personnel. The total cost of BoNT-A treatment per patient was €642.00, whilst average costs of previous therapies amounted to €853.43 [41,42]. This can be considered together with a reduction of clinic symptomatology and analgesic intake [43].…”

The road ahead for chronic headache patients

“…A subsequent one-year prospective analysis revealed that after BoNTA treatment there was a 45% reduction in the consumption of analgesics/antimigraine drugs, a 35% reduction of NSAIDs and a 100% reduction of other off-label prophylactic agents. The average costs of medications had been reduced from € 853.43 before BoNTA treatment to € 450.47 afterwards [16]. The overall conclusion of these studies displayed, together with BoNTA's efficacy for CTH, a substantial reduction of headache medication utilisation and costs.…”