[e-drug] Re: Cost of antituberculosis treatment (ATT) (cont'd)

["Gwynne Oosterbaan" <gwynne.oosterbaan@tballiance.org>]

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E-drug: Re: Cost of  antituberculosis treatment (ATT) (cont'd)
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Dear Dr. Farooq:

Good question. I hope this might help you. A non-profit drug development
enterprise, the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development aims to develop
faster-acting and affordable new TB drugs. We examined this issue in our
2001 publication, "Economics of TB Drug Development." 
(download available on
http://www.tballiance.org/3_2_C_BalancingIncentivesandAccess.asp ) 

As you may know, while the cost of drugs in DOTS can be very low, the
majority (60-75%) of TB's total costs tend be non-drug costs (hospital
stays, sputum smears, clinic visits, and X-rays). We evaluated this
because we wanted to document the impact of a new drug with a shorter
treatment regimen.  The report estimates that these costs could be
reduced by 65%.

In terms of the detailed cost estimates, the paper contains a few charts
you might want to focus on in pages 18-21 that will give you a sense of
a range of expenses in selected countries.

Exhibit 8 on p. 19 shows the break down of several public sector health
costs like smears, x-rays, fluoroscopy, dots visits, clinic visits per
unit. (The range is large. On the high-end, a per-unit x-ray cost in
Syria is $65 and a DOTS visit is as low as a few pennies in Uganda)

Exhibit 9 on p. 20 shows total public health sector cost per treated
case in a selected countries. It looks at new smear-positive, new
smear-negative and retreatment. Here, again there's a large range, with
Drugs costing as much as $1200 in the UK or as low as $7 in India; and
system costs ranging from $164 in Zimbabwe to $319 in Bangladesh.

Hope this helps. Feel free to contact me directly if we can answer any
more questions.

Gwynne

Gwynne Oosterbaan 
Assistant Director, Advocacy & Public Affairs 
Global Alliance for TB Drug Development
80 Broad Street, 31st Floor
New York, NY 10004
Gwynne.oosterbaan@tballiance.org
http://www.tballiance.org

212-227-7540 ext 209
646-258-8410 (mobile)

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