Specialty drugs are often many times more expensive than traditional drugs, which raises questions of affordability and value. We compared the value of specialty and traditional drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the period 1999–2011. To do this, we identified published estimates of additional health gains (measured in quality-adjusted life-years, or QALYs) and increase...

BACKGROUND The optimal management for severe sprains (Grades II and III) of the lateral ligament complex of the ankle is unclear. The aims of this randomised controlled trial are to estimate (1) the clinical effectiveness of three methods of providing mechanical support to the ankle (below knee cast, Aircast brace and Bledsoe boot) in comparison to Tubigrip, and (2) to compare the cost of each ...

We improve theoretically and experimentally the problem of the coupling between a high Q-factor resonator and its external coupler. We have observed oscillations of ringing induced by the sweeping of the excitation frequency of an active micro sphere. Thanks to this approach, quality factor of an optical resonator was measured and we obtained Q = 5.8×10.

BACKGROUND Routine HIV screening in emergency department (ED) settings may require dedicated personnel. We evaluated the outcomes, costs and cost-effectiveness of HIV screening when offered by either a member of the ED staff or by an HIV counselor. METHODS We employed a mathematical model to extend data obtained from a randomized clinical trial of provider- vs. counselor-based HIV screening i...

A three-pronged cost-effectiveness analysis of the treatment of febrile episodes in neutropenic cancer patients was conducted. It included a review of 37 randomized, controlled studies in the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases (1980-1996). Clinical outcomes as well as costs of treatment with imipenem/cilastatin, ceftazidime and ceftriaxone + aminoglycoside were compared. Primary therapy and modificat...

The market share of generic drugs has grown substantially since the passage of the Waxman-Hatch Act, increasing from 19% in 1984 to 50% in 2001. At entry, the generic drugs typically are priced lower than brand-name drugs; thus, incorporating the impact of the generic drug entry introduces an additional source of uncertainty in economic models as both the timing of entry and the level of generi...

abstract objective: in health economics, one of the important methods of economic evaluation is cost-effectiveness analysis. the usual procedure in this method is to consider effectiveness of disability-adjusted life years (dalys) as a measure criterion. material and methods: this was a cross sectional study of economic assessment type or cost-effectiveness. all over 30 years old population of ...

BACKGROUND Postvention services aim to ameliorate distress and reduce future incidences of suicide. The StandBy Response Service is one such service operating in Australia for those bereaved through suicide. Few previous studies have reported estimates or evaluations of the economic impact and outcomes associated with the implementation of bereavement/grief interventions. AIMS To estimate the...