@article {10902, title = {Do Statins Reduce the Health and Health Care Costs of Obesity?}, journal = {Pharmacoeconomics}, volume = {33}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Jul}, pages = {723-34}, abstract = {

CONTEXT: Obesity impacts both individual health and, given its high prevalence, total health care spending. However, as medical technology evolves, health outcomes for a number of obesity-related illnesses improve. This article examines whether medical innovation can mitigate the adverse health and spending associated with obesity, using statins as a case study. Because of the relationship between obesity and hypercholesterolaemia, statins play an important role in the medical management of obese individuals and the prevention of costly obesity-related sequelae.

METHODS: Using well-recognized estimates of the health impact of statins and the Future Elderly Model (FEM)-an established dynamic microsimulation model of the health of Americans aged over 50~years-we estimate the changes in life expectancy, functional status and health care costs of obesity due to the introduction and widespread use of statins.

RESULTS: Life expectancy gains of statins are estimated to be 5-6~\% greater for obese individuals than for healthy-weight individuals, but most of these additional gains are associated with some level of disability. Considering both medical spending and the value of quality-adjusted life-years, statins do not significantly alter the costs of class 1 and~2 obesity (body mass index [BMI] >=30 and >=35~kg/m(2), respectively) and they increase the costs of class~3 obesity (BMI >=40~kg/m(2)) by 1.2~\%.

CONCLUSIONS: Although statins are very effective medications for lowering the risk of obesity-associated illnesses, they do not significantly reduce the costs of obesity.

}, keywords = {Aged, Computer Simulation, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Health Care Costs, Humans, Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors, Life Expectancy, Markov chains, Models, Economic, Obesity, Quality-Adjusted Life Years}, issn = {1179-2027}, doi = {10.1007/s40273-014-0234-y}, author = {Gaudette, {\'E}tienne and Dana P Goldman and Messali, Andrew and Sood, Neeraj} } @article {5824, title = {Health and Access Effects of New Drugs: Combining Experimental and Non-Experimental Data}, year = {2010}, abstract = {We propose to combine clinical trial and estimates of behavioral responses in the population to quantify the value of new drug innovations when such values cannot be obtained by randomized experiments alone. New drugs are seen as having two distinct effects on patients. First, they can provide better outcomes for patients currently under treatment, due to better clinical efficacy. Second, they can also provide treatment access to more patients, perhaps by reducing side effects or expanding treatment. We compare these clinical and access effects using claims data, data on the arrival rate of new drugs, and the clinical trials literature on the effectiveness of these drugs. We find that the effect of new drug introductions on the number of patients treated accounts for a substantial majority of the value created by new drugs.}, keywords = {Health Conditions and Status, Healthcare, Methodology, Other}, url = {https://depot.erudit.org/bitstream/003241dd/1/CIRPEE10-38.pdf}, author = {Pierre-Carl Michaud and Darius Lakdawalla and Dana P Goldman and Sood, Neeraj and Cong, Ze} } @article {7417, title = {U.S. Pharmaceutical Policy In A Global Marketplace}, journal = {Health Affairs}, volume = {28}, year = {2009}, pages = {w138-w150}, publisher = {28}, abstract = {U.S. consumers generate more pharmaceutical revenue per person than Europeans do. This has led some U.S. policymakers to call for limits on U.S. pharmaceutical spending and prices. Using a microsimulation approach, we analyze the welfare impacts of lowering U.S. prices toward European levels, and how these impacts vary with key modeling assumptions. Under the assumptions most favorable to them, price controls generate modest benefits (a few thousand dollars per person). However, for the remainder of plausible assumptions, price controls generate costs that are an order of magnitude higher. In contrast, publicly financing reductions in consumer prices, without affecting manufacturer prices, delivers benefits in virtually all plausible cases.}, keywords = {Healthcare}, doi = {10.1377/hlthaff.28.1.w138}, author = {Darius Lakdawalla and Dana P Goldman and Pierre-Carl Michaud and Sood, Neeraj and Lempert, Robert and Cong, Ze and de Vries, Han and Italo Gutierrez} }