Abstract
We retrospectively evaluated the clinical outcomes of pharmaceutical interventions relating to outpatient chemotherapy and estimated their associated economic impact between August 2014 and August 2015. We developed a novel pharmaceutical system, involving JPY1,164,000 allocated to a total of 582 patients. There were 117 proposals for pharmaceutical interventions, 106 (90.6%) of which were accepted by physicians. The number of proposals for supportive therapy was 56, 29 (51.8%) of which significantly decreased the grade of chemotherapy-induced adverse events compared to before pharmaceutical interventions (P < 0.001). The number of reductions in grade 1, 2, and 3 events was 14, 11 and 4, respectively. In this study, the potential economic costs associated with reduction of grade 1, 2 and 3 chemotherapy-induced adverse events were calculated as JPY112,000, JPY112,000, and JPY2,140,000, respectively, based on the costs paid by the Adverse Drug Reaction Relief System of the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency. According to this cost calculation, we estimated that the total cost saving associated with the clinical outcomes of pharmaceutical interventions was JPY11,360,000. This is the first study to estimate the economic impact associated with the clinical outcomes of pharmaceutical interventions for outpatient chemotherapy. These results suggest that pharmaceutical interventions contribute to the quality and safety of outpatient chemotherapy by decreasing chemotherapy-induced adverse events.
