Using pharmacoeconomics to value pharmacotherapy.

Pharmacotherapeutic decisions are increasingly constrained in all clinical settings by the costs of drug treatment and medical care. Some biotech therapies (e.g., Avastin, Cerzyme, Herceptin, Gleevec, Erbitux) can cost from $10,000 to more than $100,000 per treatment episode. In 1996 the average drug treatment cost for advanced colon cancer was $500, and the average patient survival was 11 months. In 2006 the average drug treatment cost for such patients was $250,000, and the average patient survival was 24 months.(1) It is apparent that we are quickly arriving at a situation in which the determinants of medical decision making are not simply the clinical risks and benefits of treatment options but also how these are balanced against the economic costs of therapy.