Fluvoxamina: profilo farmacoeconomico

In this study we mean to outline a brief pharmacoeconomic review of fluvoxamine, considering only its antidepressant use. Essential objective is to highlight all the variables of cost effectiveness, tolerance and safety that can lead some types of differential costs. This study analyses the epidemiology and the economic burden of depression and a pharmacoeconomic profile of fluvoxamine, with its characteristics of effectiveness, tolerance, safety and handiness. The pharmacoeconomic evaluation is conducted according to the cost minimization analysis (CMA), considering fluvoxamine, Selective Serotonine Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) and antidepressant tricycic as native treatments. Fluvoxamine differs from the others SSRI far the purchase cost and it's more convenient than the antidepressant tricycic treatment, especially for long term therapy. Economic benefits can be distributed in a balanced way between the Italian national healthcare system (NACS), the society and the patients

Stato di salute degli italiani e prospettive di spesa sanitaria e farmaceutica

In december 2000 the Italian National Institute of Statistics (INSTAT) published some extracts from the latest statistical survey about the state of health and the resort to medical services in Italy. The research is based on a sample of 52.300 italian families. Since 1980 the average lifetime in Italy grew five years longer: today the average expectancy for a man is 76 years old, and for a woman is 82 years old. All these deep demographic transformations involve an important increase in the chronic-degenerative pathologies. This rise will take up a great deal of public and private health resources. The most frequent chronic-degenerative pathologies are arthrosis or arthritis (18% of italian people) and the high blood pressure (11,5%). After the age of 45, the chronic-degenerative pathologies show a clear growth: some diseases are prevalent in women (e.g. osteoporosis), other prevail in men (e.g. chronic brochitis and stomach ulcer). To better understand the intensity of the resort to medical services, the statistical survey also consider the perception of the health state in Italy. The overall analysis show that the drug consumption (and the health resources consumption generally) is based on a complexity of social and cultural elements; therefore in some particular areas the control of the medical expenditure is more diffucult then in others

Profilo terapeutico e farmacoeconomico di linezolid

The incidence of nosocomial infections from Gram-positive pathogens has been increasing in the last two decades, alongside the development of antibiotic resistance in many bacteria. Glycopeptidic drugs are the most widely used options for these patients, but some bacterial strains with low sensibility to vancomycin and teicoplanin are starting to emerge, warranting careful monitoring and control of nosocomial and also community- acquired infections. This paper outlines a clinical, therapeutic and economic profile of linezolid, the first drug of the only new antibiotic class developed in the last thirty years. In clinical trials, linezolid has demonstrated very promising efficacy and safety in the treatment of antibiotic-resistant infections, in particular those caused by methicillin-resistant staphylococci (MRSA), obtaining greater or equal clinical and microbiological success rates than the standard options. Linezolid, as most newer drugs, has higher acquisition costs than the alternatives, but also bears interesting features that may modify the formation of infection treatment costs. In particluar, linezolid is very well absorbed after oral administration, allowing the planning of sequential iv/os strategies that have the potential to reduce health care costs and to improve the quality of life of the patients by shortening the length of hospitalization. Economic evaluations have demonstrated that this advantage is not merely theoretical, but that it can be achieved in real practice. In particular, linezolid has been shown to be more cost-effective than teicoplanin and vancomycin in the treatment of hospitalized, MRSA-related nosocomial pneumonia and severe infections

ALPRAZOLAM: profilo farmacoeconomico nei disturbi d'ansia e da attacchi di panico

Alprazolam is a triazolo analog of the 1,4 benzodiazepine class, widely used to treat patients with anxiety disorder, panic attacks and anxiety comorbidity with depressive disorder. Following oral administration, alprazolam is readily absorbed with peack plasma levels in 2 hours; extensive hepatic metabolism occurs and about 80% of the oral dose is excreted by kidney. The main metabolic route is hydroxylation catalyzed by cytochrome P450 3A: alpha-hydroxy alprazolam is partially active. Alprazolam possesses anxiolytic properties similar to other benzodiazepines; however, the triazolo ring confers to alprazolam a peculiar antidepressant and antipanic activity. Anxiety disorder, panic attacks with or without agoraphobia, and mixed anxiety-depressive disorder represent an heavy economic burden to National Health System (NHS) and to society. In the present work the clinical pharmacology and the therapeutic profile of alprazolam are reviewed and analysed under the pharmacoeconomic perspectives of the italian patients, General Practitioners, NHS and society

Prescription and use of "equivalent" drugs

Three case reports, where an "equivalent" drugs is prescribed, are described: a patient treated with lanzoprazole, a man with acute myocardial infarction and a young man with epilepsy. These reports are emblematic of the doubts and problems that doctors have to afford in the choice of a generic drug instead of a branded drug. The Author examines not only clinical, legislative and economical aspects of prescription of generic drugs in the Italian context, but also common questions that patients may ask when a generic drug is prescribed

[Pegylated interferon beta-1a on the Italian market]

[Editorial in Italian

Unita di consumo dei farmaci e valutazioni farmacoeconomiche: uso e misuso di DDD e PDD

In pharmacoeconomical evaluations the quantification of drug utilization has to be done on the basis of measurement units that allow comparisons among series of longitudinal and transversal data. The most common techniques used for the analysis and the comparison of drug utilization patterns are based either on the Defined Daily Dose (DDD), a unit system proposed by WHO's Drug Utilization Research Group, or on the Prescribed Daily Dose (PDD), a statistical parameter obtained from the analysis of drug prescriptions. This article illustrates the meaning of the main indicators of drug consumption that can be build with these techniques, underlining their utility and limitations. The DDD is the conventionally established theoretical mean daily dose of a drug, referred to a way of administration and to its main indication. It is, therefore, a mere technical measurement unit that cannot be interpreted as mean prescribed or consumed dose, and even less as recommended dose. The PDD, on the contrary, is not a measurement unit but a statistical mean value, that expresses the central tendency of the prescription variability in a defined setting. Starting from Italian data on the consumption of wide-spread antibiotics, the use and interpretation of various indicators based on the DDDs and PDDs are discussed. The parameters derived with the DDD technique are suitable for monitoring drug utilization and pharmaceutical expenditure. The PDD method is more direct, indicates the mean quantities actually prescribed and permits the estimation of the total dose consumed per therapeutic cycle and of other clinically relevant parameters, but requires the acquisition of more data than the other technique does. It is also important to remark the fact that both methods can't be directly used for economical evaluations trying to assess the efficiency of resource allocation, as they are not correlated to the clinical outcomes of the therapy

Sulodexide: implicazioni cliniche ed economiche

Sulodexide is a highly purified glycosaminoglycan approved for leg ulcers treatment. It contains two principal components: heparan sulfate, a fast-moving heparin fraction, (80%) and dermatan sulfate (20%). Sulodexide is available as an oral agent and as an injectable preparation. Its pharmacological action is obtained by dose-dependent coagulation factors inhibition: dermatan sulfate upgrades the physiological action of a selective thrombin inhibitor, heparin cofactor II, and heparan sulfate depresses activated factor X, via an increase of antithrombin III action. The antithrombotic action is enhanced by platelet aggregation inhibition and by the activation of the fibrinolytic system. This paper summarizes the results of some of the main trials that evaluated sulodexide in the treatment of peripheral occlusive arterial disease and venous leg ulcers; a trial on prevention of recurrent deep venous thrombosis with sulodexide is also reviewed. We analyzed data about the clinical and economical impact of chronic venous insufficiency with a particular attention to the cost of medication, hospitalization and management of leg ulcers. The hypothetical savings correlated to the reduction of leg ulcers incidence and healing time attainable with sulodexide have been estimated. A comparison between the different acquisition costs of the drugs frequently used to treat leg ulcers is also provided. Finally we reviewed some quality of life trials in which the psychological and sociological influence of the disease and its treatments on the patient are assessed

Neridronato nel trattamento dell'osteogenesi imperfetta: prestazioni cliniche ed economiche di un farmaco orfano

Bisphosphonates (BPs) are osteoclast-mediated bone resorption inhibitors and the nature of the groups attached to the central carbon atom determines the drug potency. Neridronate is an injectable aminobisphosphonate, structurally similar to alendronate and pamidronate, authorized for the treatment of osteogenesis imperfecta (OI). This drug has often been used to treat other pathologies, as an off-label option, to increase tolerability and ameliorate compliance, partly because the management of orally administered bisphosphonates, with their gastrointestinal side effects, results complicated. In this paper pharmacokinetic, pharmacodinamic and main placebo-controlled clinical trials on OI patients are reviewed. The available scientific evidence demonstrates the neridronate efficacy to improve spine and hip bone mineral density, to lower markers of skeletal turnover and to decrease fracture incidence, compared with controls. We also report clinical trials results and data about the effect of intravenous infusions of neridronate in patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis, Paget's disease and rheumatoid arthritis. Finally, we consider the economical impact of chronic and incapacitating pathologies, like osteogenesis imperfecta, on family's total income and the influence of the disease on quality of life of pediatric and adult patients