1996 Volume 3 Pages 169-179
The latest survey shows that the number of deaths from hepatocellular carcinoma totals 27,765, and that this figure represents an increase of 2.6 times over the number of deaths twenty years ago.This significant upsurge in the number of deaths is primarily due to an increase in the number of hepatocellular carcinoma cases related to hepatitis C virus. Recently, the number of deaths from cirrhosis related to hepatitis C virus has shown an increase as well.
To prevent cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, it is important to treat chronic hepatitis C, which causes these two diseases.Under the present circumstances, the administration of interferon is the only effective treatment for chronic hepatitis C.
In recent years, the medical care cost in Japan has increased significantly. As a result, there is growing public concern about reducing medical care cost, using limited resources effectively and efficiently. Accordingly, it is important to verify the cost efficiency of an expensive medical treatment, such as interferon for chronic hepatitis C.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the current status of pharmacoeconomic studies of the treatment for chronic hepatitis C with interferon, to establish the most suitable treatment strategy for chronic hepatitis C with interferon, and to measure the cost efficiency of the treatment for chronic hepatitis C with interferon based on the most suitable treatment strategy.
It is found that there are only four papers in Japan and overseas medical literature that deal with cost efficiency of the treatment for chronic hepatitis C with interferon.
And, it turned out that when the treatment is given to a million patients with chronic hepatitis C using the least expensive interferon α-2a under the most suitable treatment strategy, the total medical care cost is between ¥9.4 trillion and ¥11.3 trillion.
By contrast, when the former treatment, which did not rely on interferon, is given to a million patients with chronic hepatitis C, the total medical cost is approximately ¥14.2 trillion.
Consequently, it can be concluded that interferon treatment that is based on the most suitable treatment strategy would be effective in reducing the total medical care cost by from ¥2.9 trillion and ¥4.8 trillion.
