ABSTRACT
We have constructed a formal model on cost-benefit of new technology in health care, and apply it on boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT). We assume that the patient health benefit from getting cured in acute treatment is always higher than the patient utility resulting from any long term treatment or death. This assumption makes it possible to evaluate the monetary cost impacts of a new technology and relate these measures to the patient health benefit.
Subject(s)
Boron Neutron Capture Therapy/economics , Cost-Benefit Analysis , Models, Economic , Humans , Neoplasms/radiotherapy , Quality-Adjusted Life YearsABSTRACT
We studied the uptake of boron after 100 mg/kg BPA infusion in three meningioma and five schwannoma patients as a pre-BNCT feasibility study. With average tumour-to-whole blood boron concentrations of 2.5, we discuss why BNCT could, and probably should, be developed to treat severe forms of the studied tumours. However, analysing 72 tumour and 250 blood samples yielded another finding: the plasma-to-whole blood boron concentrations varied with time, suggesting that the assumed constant boron ratio of 1:1 between normal brain tissue and whole blood deserves re-assessment.
Subject(s)
Boron Compounds/administration & dosage , Boron Neutron Capture Therapy , Boron/pharmacokinetics , Brain Neoplasms/radiotherapy , Fructose/administration & dosage , Meningioma/radiotherapy , Neurilemmoma/radiotherapy , Phenylalanine/analogs & derivatives , Adult , Aged , Feasibility Studies , Female , Humans , Infusions, Intravenous , Male , Middle Aged , Phenylalanine/administration & dosage , Tissue Distribution , Young AdultABSTRACT
This contribution estimates the price-cost margin in the Finnish pharmaceutical industry. The estimation is based on the method developed by Hall who shows that under constant returns to scale total factor productivity growth depends on the growth of output-capital ratio if the market is imperfectly competitive. Measurement of the price-cost margin is based on this theoretical result. We utilize data on the Finnish pharmaceutical industry. The data cover the years 1975-1999 and include information on output, labor hours, and capital stock. The results show that the estimated price-cost margin is in the range 0.59-0.67, which is close to the estimates obtained in the United States market.
