German health economic cost evaluation on oral ganciclovir in treating cytomegalovirus retinitis.

The purpose of this study was to discuss the cost of oral ganciclovir in comparison with its intravenous formulation in treating CMV retinitis. A cost-cost evaluation was carried out to compare the costs of oral and intravenous treatment with ganciclovir. Costs were calculated by employing the usual prices charged to sickness funds (German social health insurers). The costs of induction and maintenance therapy depend on the period of time the therapy takes, the site of administration (e.g. hospital, physician's office, patient's home) and the charges for the services. Different treatment scenarios were created in order to calculate the costs of the treatment alternatives and in a sensitivity analysis the robustness of the results was tested. Different probabilities for adverse effects were used. The study results showed that total costs of treating CMV retinitis with oral ganciclovir were substantially lower than the costs of intravenous treatment.