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Economic Analyses to Inform and Support Health Policy for Chronic Hepatitis B Treatment

  • Hepatitis B (JK Lim, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Hepatology Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

Summarize insights into the economic impact of global hepatitis B treatment policies.

Recent Findings

With the highly effective antiviral treatment, entecavir and recently tenofovir, coming off patent, hepatitis B treatment is now very inexpensive and may save costs in the long run. In the USA alone, dramatic increases in screening and treatment would prevent between 80 and 100 thousand cases of cirrhosis, 50 and 60 thousand cases of liver cancer, and 80 to 100 thousand HBV-related deaths over the next 50 years.

Summary

Cost-effectiveness analyses can provide information in the form of what a proper course of action will cost, and what the benefits will be in terms of health impact. Since the sharp reduction in antiviral drug pricing, the focus should be on treating patients with generic antivirals to ensure that the chronic hepatitis B care and treatment efforts are highly cost-effective and even cost-saving.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Asian Liver Centre, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, USA

    Mehlika Toy & Samuel So

  2. Department of Health Management and Policy, School of Public Health, Michigan University, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    David W. Hutton

Authors
  1. Mehlika Toy
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  2. David W. Hutton
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  3. Samuel So
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Correspondence to Mehlika Toy.

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Conflict of Interest

Mehlika Toy, David W. Hutton, and Samuel So each declare no potential conflicts of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Hepatitis B

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Toy, M., Hutton, D.W. & So, S. Economic Analyses to Inform and Support Health Policy for Chronic Hepatitis B Treatment. Curr Hepatology Rep 18, 357–362 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11901-019-00482-0

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