"The study found that the M.S. drugs cost about $1 million per Quality Adjusted Life Year (QALY), with Copaxone costing $2 million per QALY. While there is no firm standard, experts say that to be considered cost-effective, a treatment should be no more than about $100,000 per QALY."
QALY stands for Quality-Adjusted Life Years, which is a measure used in health economics to assess the value of medical interventions. The basic idea is to consider not just the quantity of life that a treatment can provide, but also the quality of life.
When it comes to drugs, QALYs can help determine if a drug is cost-effective by looking at the increase in life years and the improvement in quality of life it can provide. This can be used by policymakers and health providers when making decisions about which treatments to fund.
"And the gains in health from the drugs were small. A person taking Avonex for 10 years would gain the equivalent of two extra months of perfect health, and those taking Copaxone would gain one month. Those taking Betaseron would have six years free of relapses, compared to five years free of relapses for those not taking any of the drugs."Please read more:
http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/ ... -patients/
Comment: The beneficial effects purported above appear to be some sort of joke. The fact is that there is absolutely no benefit but plenty of side effects. Furthermore, the costs have risen massively since the above figures were published, with almost no improvement in outcomes.
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