The Economic Burden of Biological Drugs in Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment

Objectives: This article aimed to count and compare treatment's direct (only biological drugs) and indirect (loss of productivity) costs in patients with rheumatoid arthritis from 2019 to 2021.Methods: The friction cost approach was used to establish indirect costs. Elasticity factor values and friction period for the Slovak Republic from 2019 to 2021 were determined. Direct drug costs were calculated based on average prices from 2019 to 2021 and the number of dispensed medication packages.Results: The average productivity loss reached euro2984.54 in 2019, euro3338.46 in 2020, and euro3154.01 in 2021. Total indirect costs include productivity loss and sick pay, and from 2019 to 2021 came the values of euro8.4 million, euro10.1 million, and euro8.1 million, respectively. Conclusions: Indirect costs were almost 2.5 to 3 times lower than the biological and targeted treatment costs.

Automated summary

This study aimed to compare the direct (biological drugs only) and indirect (productivity loss) costs in patients with rheumatoid arthritis during the study period. The results showed that the indirect costs were 2.5 to 3 times lower than the costs of biological and targeted treatment.