The Costs of Psoriasis Medications

Abstract

IntroductionPsoriasis is a chronic disease, which contributes to the economic burden on health care. The distribution of psoriasis medication costs and the quality of life in these patients has been estimated to be around 20% of total costs.ObjectivesTo estimate the economic distribution of medications and the impact of multiple treatment options on a patient’s quality of life.Materials and methodsThe study was based on 236 Finnish psoriasis patients. The Finnish Social Insurance Institution had databases for all psoriasis related medications purchased. Each purchase, during the 1-year study period (1 October 2009–30 September 2010), was recorded and analyzed. The dermatological quality-of-life index was collected from the medical records.ResultsTotal medication costs were €1,083 per year per patient. Topical treatments were the most often purchased medication and they comprised 18% of the total medication costs. Ten percent of the patients needed 3 or more medication changes during the 1-year study period. Biologics were used only by 5% of patients, but they produced 67% of total medication costs. Patients needing various treatments had higher medication costs and a poorer quality of life.ConclusionA small number of patients generated a great sum of medication costs partly due to the need to change medications. These patients had the worst quality-of-life index scores. Biologics formed a major cost component.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13555-013-0040-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Narrowband ultraviolet B treatment for psoriasis is highly economical and causes significant savings in cost for topical treatments

“…lab cost) and arbitrarily levied NB‐UVB charges that are not inherent treatment costs but rather form part of an overall profitable pricing structure. Another Finnish‐based real‐world study from 2009 assigned €39 per annum to methotrexate and €351 per annum to acitretin, but did not quantify NB‐UVB cost, despite stating that this was applied to 36% of patients …”

“…Another Finnish-based real-world study from 2009 assigned €39 per annum to methotrexate and €351 per annum to acitretin, but did not quantify NB-UVB cost, despite stating that this was applied to 36% of patients. 16 One recent review based in the U.S.A. assigned a direct treatment cost of office-based NB-UVB as ranging between $1414 and $6676 per course based on three cited studies. However, these figures were compiled based on estimates, rather than actual costs, and did not attempt to explain the huge variability in the cited studies.…”

Psoriasis Causes Significant Economic Burden to Patients

“…On the other hand, patients receiving systemic treatment or phototherapy have been found to have lower PASI values than other patients [ 8 ], possibly due to successful control of psoriasis in patients receiving adequate treatment. In the authors’ previous work [ 27 ] topical therapies were most often combined with other forms of treatment. More severe psoriasis patients, who receive systemic medications to control their symptoms, may need more extensive self-care than those who manage with less care, irrespective of PASI values.…”

Enhanced meta-analysis and replication studies identify five new psoriasis susceptibility loci

“…Psoriasis is a chronic immune-mediated skin disease with complex genetic architecture that affects approximately 2% of the world population. It presents a significant economic burden for affected individuals and for society 1 , and can severely impact the patient’s quality of life 2 . Aided by advances in high throughput genotyping technologies, genomewide association studies have identified multiple genetic loci associated with psoriasis 3 – 6 .…”