Antiviral Cocktails Cut Cost of Treating Patients With HIV

According to two new studies in today's New England Journal of Medicine (2001;344:817-823,824-831), the most cost-effective way of treating AIDS patients is with combination drug cocktails, even though they are expensive. Researchers at Rand Health in Santa Monica, California, found that since the introduction of the antiretroviral cocktails, overall medical costs for HIV-infected adults fell from $20,300 per patient in 1996 to $18,300 in 1998. The cost decrease is attributed to the reduction of hospital costs due to the effectiveness of the drugs. In the second study, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School estimated that it costs between $13,000 and $23,000 to add one year of healthy life expectancy for an HIV patient, evidence they feel demonstrates the cost effectiveness of the cocktails. The researchers also found that the average life expectancy for the patients they studied increased from 18 months to three years after adjusting for quality of life.

Other CDC News for March 15, 2001

Effectiveness of the Direct Observation Component of DOTS for Tuberculosis: a Randomized Controlled Trial in Pakistan Maker Yielding Patent in Africa for AIDS Drug Antiviral Cocktails Cut Cost of Treating Patients With HIV Advertisement South Africa Resists Call for AIDS Emergency	As AIDS Grows For Minorities, So Does Funding; Groups Assisting City's Blacks, Latinos Win Increased Support The Danger of Living "Down Low"; Black Men Who Hide Their Bisexuality Can Put Women at Risk A New AIDS Strategy Brazil to Launch AIDS Vaccine Human Trials in April
Mogae Warns Botswana Faces Extinction From AIDS