Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - (Page 17)

ECONOMIC BURDEN Direct and indirect costs In the United States, arthritis and related conditions account for $128 billion annually in direct and indirect costs. The economic burden associated with RA is disproportionate relative to these other conditions and significantly exceeds that of osteoarthritis, for example. Moreover, this finding holds true even when hypertension — a common comorbidity in patients with arthritis — is factored into the equation. Ratio of annual disease costs (direct and indirect combined), 2000 2.4 1.5 1.3 1.0 Et cetera: Indirect costs related to RA, including lost wages and the cost of paid help to do chores, were up to 5 times higher than the indirect costs incurred by patients with osteoarthritis and hypertension. Rheumatoid arthritis OA and HTN OA HTN HTN=hypertension, OA=osteoarthritis. Source: Maetzel 2004 Work disability in RA Work disability accounts for much of the economic burden associated with RA. RA tends to manifest 15 years earlier than OA, with the average age of onset between 30 and 50. Moreover, patients with RA are at risk of disability from the very start of their symptoms. Employment rates, various studies 100 90 % working at time of review 80 1998 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 1999 2001 1996 1995 2003 Et cetera: A review of studies conducted over two decades shows that between 20 and 30 percent of working-age people diagnosed with RA become permanently disabled in part or in whole during the first 2 to 3 years of the disease. This has fueled controversy about how aggressively RA should be treated at its earliest stages. Risk factors for early work disability include a physically demanding job, older age, and lower educational level. REFERENCES Goodson N, Marks J, Lunt M, Symmons D. Cardiovascular admissions and mortality in an inception cohort of patients with rheumatoid arthritis with onset in the 1980s and 1990s. Ann Rheum Dis. 2005;64: 1595–1601. Helmick CG, Felson DT, Lawrence RC, et al. Estimates of the prevalence of arthritis and other rheumatic conditions in the United States. Part I. Arthritis Rheum. 2008;58:15–25. Maetzel A, Li LC, Pencharz J, et al. The economic burden associated with osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and hypertension: a comparative study. Ann Rheum Dis. 2004;63:395–401. PhRMA (Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America). 2006 Report: Medicines in Development — Biotechnology. Washington: PhRMA. 2006. PhRMA New medicines database. «http://newmeds.phrma.org». Accessed July 22, 2008. Sokka T. Work disability in early rheumatoid arthritis. Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2003;21(5 suppl 31):S71–S74. 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 Average disease duration (years) at time of review Source: Sokka 2003 1 The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relies on unpublished data from a 1985 RA prevalence study from Rochester, Minn., as the best basis for calculating prevalence of RA in the United States, though Helmick (2008) acknowledges that new epidemiologic studies are needed. Statistics estimating prevalence by gender were developed in 1995 and were not revised in the CDC’s 2005 recalculation. JULY/AUGUST 2008 · BIOTECHNOLOGY HEALTHCARE 17 http://newmeds.phrma.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008

Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 Openers Contents Editorial/David B. Nash, MD, MBA Drug Track Health Plan Confidential Rheumatoid Arthritis A Decade of Trial, Error, False Starts, and Hope What Path Will Comparative Effectiveness Research Take? RA Therapies in Development: A New Generation of Relief Assessing the Full Impact of RA on Employers and Payers Stem Cells: Health Insurance You Can Bank On Specialty Pharmacy Employer to Employer Personalized Medicine Trends Clinical Briefs

Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008

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