Daily costs of prostaglandin analogues as monotherapy or in fixed combinations with timolol, in Denmark, Finland, Germany and Sweden

BACKGROUND: To compare the daily costs of 3 prostaglandin analogues (bimatoprost, latanoprost, travoprost), alone, and associated with timolol in 4 European countries (Denmark, Finland, Germany, and Sweden). METHODS: Six glaucoma products were sampled by buying 5 bottles from 1 suburban pharmacy in each of the 4 countries. Drops were weighed by a single operator at 1 site according to standardized procedures. Residual drops were then counted. Unit bottle costs were estimated from tariff lists. Eye-drop weights were entered into a nested analysis of variance comprising drug, instillation day, country, the interaction, and a sample factor nested within the country factor. Effectiveness was represented by treatment failure rates estimated from a meta-analysis and a general practitioner survey. RESULTS: Every drug bottle contained sufficient drops to treat 1 patient for 28/31 days. Drop-size heterogeneity between countries was observed for bimatoprost and bimatoprost/timolol. Mean travoprost and travoprost/timolol drop-sizes were the smallest, and drop-counts per bottle were the lowest for latanoprost, or latanoprost/timolol. In all 4 countries annual costs were least for travoprost and travoprost/timolol. CONCLUSIONS: On taking into account drug costs and effectiveness, travoprost and travoprost/timolol were cheaper and more effective than latanoprost and latanoprost/timolol and were cheaper than bimatoprost and bimatoprost/timolol

Estimation of the incidence of genital warts and the cost of illness in Germany: A cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a necessary cause of cervical cancer. HPV is also responsible for benign <it>condylomata acuminata</it>, also known as genital warts. We assessed the incidence of genital warts in Germany and collected information on their management to estimate the annual cost of disease.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This was a multi-centre observational (cross-sectional) study of genital warts in Germany. Data were collected from gynecologists, dermatologists, and urologists seeing patients with genital warts between February and April 2005. The number of patients with new and recurrent genital warts was used to estimate the incidence in Germany. We assessed resource use for patients with genital warts seen during a two-month period as well as retrospective resource use twelve months prior to the inclusion visit through a chart review. The mean costs of treatment of patients with genital warts from third-party payer and societal perspectives were estimated, and the total annual cost of genital warts was then calculated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>For the incidence calculation 217 specialists provided information on 848 patients and 214 specialists provided resource use data for 617 patients to assess resource consumption. The incidence of new and recurrent cases of genital warts was 113.7 and 34.7 per 100 000, respectively, for women aged 14–65 years consulting gynecologists. The highest incidence was observed in women aged 14–25 years (171.0 per 100 000) for new cases and in women aged 26–45 years (53.1 per 100 000) for recurrent cases. The sample size for males was too small to allow a meaningful estimate of the incidence. The mean direct cost per patient with new genital warts was estimated at 378 euros (95% CI: 310.8–444.9); for recurrent genital warts at 603 euros (95% CI: 436.5–814.5), and for resistant genital warts at 1,142 euros (95% CI: 639.6–1752.3). The overall cost to third-party payers was estimated at 49.0 million euros, and the total societal cost at 54.1 million euros, corresponding to an average cost per patient of 550 euros and 607 euros, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The societal burden and costs of managing and treating genital warts in Germany are considerable. A vaccination programme using the quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccine could provide a substantial health benefit and reduce the costs associated with genital warts in Germany.</p

Convalescent plasma improves overall survival in patients with B-cell lymphoid malignancy and COVID-19: a longitudinal cohort and propensity score analysis

International audiencePatients with hematological malignancy and COVID-19 display a high mortality rate. In such patients, immunosuppression due to underlying disease and previous specific treatments impair humoral response, limiting viral clearance. Thus, COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) therapy appears as a promising approach through the transfer of neutralizing antibodies specific to SARS-CoV-2. We report the effect of CCP in a cohort of 112 patients with hematological malignancy and COVID-19 and a propensity score analysis on subgroups of patients with B-cell lymphoid disease treated (n = 81) or not (n = 120) with CCP between May 1, 2020 and April 1, 2021. The overall survival of the whole cohort was 65% (95% CI = 56–74.9) and 77.5% (95% CI = 68.5–87.7) for patients with B-cell neoplasm. Prior anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody therapy was associated with better overall survival, whereas age, high blood pressure, and COVID-19 severity were associated with a poor outcome. After an inverse probability of treatment weighting approach, we observed in anti-CD20–exposed patients with B-cell lymphoid disease a decreased mortality of 63% (95% CI = 31–80) in the CCP-treated group compared to the CCP-untreated subgroup, confirmed in the other sensitivity analyses. Convalescent plasma may be beneficial in COVID-19 patients with B-cell neoplasm who are unable to mount a humoral immune response