Putting multiple sclerosis under the ‘economic spotlight’

Abstract

T here is increasing demand for the economic assessment of new, innovative healthcare technologies, including drugs. Such assessments are driven by a growth rate for new products that surpasses the growth of real per capita income. Although rapid technological change is associated with increased opportunities to improve health outcomes, it can also lead to increasingly difficult choices among competing interventions that treat individuals with different healthcare needs. For example, the high acquisition cost of interferon-β for the treatment of multiple sclerosis and the limited information on its long-term efficacy in this condition has put it under the economic spotlight.