Hervé Bard

PAR5 MESSAGE: AN OBSERVATIONAL POST-LAUNCH STUDYTO ASSESS EFFECTIVENESS AND COST OF SUPLASYN® IN PATIENTS WITH KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS

from permanent surveys on medical prescription, from the French cost per DRG database, and from various other data sources. Perspective was that of health insurance and prices were consequently based on reimbursement tariffs. RESULTS: From 1991 to 2002, the direct medical cost of osteoarthritis in France has raised by 156% (from 0.64 to 1.64 billion Euros), i.e 9% per year. The number of treated patients increased by 54% (from 3 million to 4.6 million), so that the cost per patient rose by 4.8% per year in average. Taking the GDP price index as deflator, the real average annual rates of growth per treated patient were 3.3%, 0.3%, 7.4% and 3.7% respectively for total expenses, doctors’ visits, pharmaceuticals and hospitalisations. Sick leave cost to health insurance rose by 2.5% per year and per patient in real terms. CONCLUSIONS: During the past eleven years, the cost of osteoarthritis has substantially raised in France. Half of the growth was attributable to the number of treated patients and to general inflation, the other half being due to changes in the treatment patterns, especially in pharmaceutical prescriptions. The emergence of new treatments such as COX-2 inhibitors may largely explain this tendency. Hospital costs also showed a marked growth, certainly due to the generalisation of hip or knee arthroplasty surgery procedures. In the future, it may be thought that the cost will continue to grow at a similar rate under the influence of both demographic factors and treatment innovations.