• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.278-287
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• 2010

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of tafluprost compared with latanoprost in primry open Angle Glaucoma (POAG) or ocular hypertension OH patients in Korea. A decision analytic model was developed from a societal perspective to estimate clinical outcome, drug cost and glaucoma related cost. The model assumes branch like following: successful treatment, switching to other drug, adding other drug, laser or surgery. Treatment success rate is defined as the percentage of patients with elevated IOP achieving <20% reduction, and discontinuation rate is the percentage of patients who were withdrawn due to severe adverse events. A model that is comprised of 1 month cycle length has 1 year. Treatment success rate and discontinuation rate were obtained from published literatures searched in database. Resource utilizations and costs were calculated with national health insurance data and clinical expert opinions. Sensitivity analyses were performed on crucial parameters. Tafluprost is less costly than latanoprost, $609.0 vs $651.2 expected cost. Thus tafluprost was shown to be dominant compared with latanoprost. The results of sensitivity analysis revealed stable across most of the included parameters. According to this study, tafluprost shows more clinical outcome for 1 year than latanoprost. In addition, first-line treatment of tafluprost is a more cost-minimizing strategy associated with POAG or OH compared with latanoprost.