Lipid-lowering drug use must be based on evidence of cost effectiveness

Abstract

The majority of lipid-lowering drug prescriptions dispensed in the Canadian province of British Columbia are for population groups for which there is no research evidence to support the use of such drugs. So says Dr Isabelle Savoie from the British Columbia Office of Health Technology Assessment, Vancouver, Canada. She made this comment at the 14th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Technology Assessment in Health Care (ISTAHC) [ Ottawa, Canada; June 1998 ] during a presentation of pharmacoeconomic studies of lipid-lowering drug therapy. The preliminary results of Dr Savoie’s study 1 and those of other presenters at the session are discussed below.