Cost of treating predialysis patients with recombinant human erythropoietin

Treatment of the anaemia of predialysis patients with recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEpo) is likely to become a widely accepted practice during the coming years. We estimated the impact on health care expenditures with the example of the French population of end-stage renal disease patients. Using retrospective data, we calculated the percentage of predialysis patients with advanced chronic renal failure who would be eligible for treatment according to two different criteria based on haemoglobin and clinical condition, the total duration of treatment, and the total amount of rHuEpo delivered. We estimate that the total cost of treating French predialysis patients could vary between 2.2 and 6.5 million Swiss francs, or 50,000 to 140,000 Swiss francs per million population, using rHuEpo dosage from 50 to 150 IU/kg week.