In 1990, annual costs of the diagnosis and treatment of cancer reached nearly $100 billion and currently constitutes approximately 10% of health care expenditures in the United States. As new and often more expensive therapies for cancer treatment become available, the health care decision- maker must consider the cost effectiveness of the therapy.
Methods
Key principles of economic analyses and the inherent differences among these analyses are reviewed.
Results
While pharmacoeconomic analyses are increasingly being used in treatment decision-making, several issues relating to study design, data collection, and research methods are controversial.
Conclusions
Pharmacoeconomics analyses are necessary in the current health care environment, but the assumptions used within the analyses warrant careful evaluation.
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