The pharmacoeconomics of biologic therapy for IBD

The past decade has been marked by the introduction and expanding use of biologic therapies for the induction and maintenance of response in patients with IBD. Although widely heralded for their efficacy, these agents have also stirred controversy over the potential economic impact that they will have upon the world's health-care systems. Traditional cost analyses had shown that IBD medication costs contributed minimally towards the overall costs associated with the disease; however, these studies were all conducted before the introduction of biologic therapies. At that time, a small minority of patients accounted for a disproportionately large percentage of the overall costs, suggesting that cost-savings could be realized if interventions decreased the utilization of health-care resources and associated costs. More recent studies have been heterogeneous in their design and findings-some have suggested that cost-savings realized due to a decrease in the utilization of health-care services may offset the higher costs of biologic agents. Incorporation of data on indirect cost-savings and quality of life improvements into ongoing and future analyses is required to allow for more accurate analyses of overall costs and cost-savings.