Which Neuroleptic Drug is the Most Expensive?

Overview

Permanent increase of total costs including cost of pharmacotherapy due to increasing prices ofdrugs represents one of the most important problems in the Czech health care system since 1989.Administrative regulations of the costs are little effective and prevent patients from access tomodern drugs. Schizophrenia is —the most expensivein mental disorder and regulations of the costaffect atypical antipsychotic drugs most of all. At the same time results of foreign pharmacoeco-nomic studies suggest that the treatment of schizophrenia with clozapine, olanzapine or risperi-done may lead to savings in direct and indirects costs compared with therapy with the standardneuroleptic drugs. This finding has been proved in patients with long-term hospitalizations so faronly in a Czech study. —The most expensiveia neuroleptic drug is not the one with the highest pricebut the drug which extends periods of hospitalizations and working disability and increasesconsumption of health care.

Key words:
pharmacoeconomics, schizophrenia, clozapine, olanzapine, risperidone.