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Cost-effectiveness of clozapine

A UK clinic-based study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2018

Katherine J. Aitchison  and
Robert W Kerwin
Katherine J. Aitchison*
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, London
Robert W Kerwin
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, London
*
Dr Katherine J. Aitchison, Section of Clinical Neuropharmacology, Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF. Fax: 0171 7019044; e-mail: spmakja@iop.bpmf.ac.uk
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Abstract

Background

Schizophrenia is highly expensive in calculable and incalculable costs. Measures which impact the cost in the most severely affected are likely to produce the greatest cost reductions. Studies regarding clozapine in the USA have demonstrated clear cost-effectiveness, despite the high prescription costs. There are no prior UK studies.

Method

We performed a cost-effectiveness analysis comparing the three years prior to commencing clozapine to the period following establishment of clozapine treatment (mean 36.4 months) for 26 patients with chronic schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.

Results

There was a significant improvement in all clinical ratings applied (and a mean net saving of £3768 per annum). The cost-effectiveness of clozapine was double that of conventional neuroleptics (15.2 pre-, 33.0 post-clozapine, P < 0.005).

Conclusions

As a naturalistic study our data provide valuable information on the cost-effectiveness of clozapine in the UK. Our methodology could be applied in a community setting or in the study of another atypical neuroleptic.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 171 , Issue 2 , August 1997 , pp. 125 - 130
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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Footnotes

†

See editorial pp. 103–104, this issue.

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