Abstract
Objective : Injectable drugs usually include several products of different dosage and price. It is, therefore, difficult for pharmacists and medical staff to select the optimal combination of the products, which provides product selection and sufficient drug amounts prescribed while minimizing the price. We developed a support program for optimizing by using a processing software, NaU DSP®.
Methods : Our program has a simple function to calculate and find the optimal combinations among the potential alternatives. We applied this program to analyze RANDA®, a cisplatin preparation, which has three products containing 10mg, 25mg and 50mg at a price of ¥4, 555, ¥11, 000 and ¥19, 860, respectively. Seven hundred forty-two prescriptions including RANDA® were investigated.
Results : In seventy-eight prescriptions (11%), there was a reduction in the total price of the product combinations between the selection aided with and without the program.
Conclusion : By using the optimization program, pharmaceutical costs can be curtailed more effectively than by arbitrary selection by medical staff.
