The Economic Burden of Biological Drugs in Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment.

Objectives: This article aimed to count and compare treatment's direct (only biological drugs) and indirect (loss of productivity) costs in patients with rheumatoid arthritis from 2019 to 2021.

Methods: The friction cost approach was used to establish indirect costs. Elasticity factor values and friction period for the Slovak Republic from 2019 to 2021 were determined.

The Checklist for Standard Methodological Requirements and Reporting of Economic Evaluation of Medicines in Slovakia.

Objectives: We have developed a scientifically well-grounded, methodological, and reporting checklist for economic evaluation (EE) of medicines in the Slovak health technology assessment process, which serves as a supplement to the Slovak pharmacoeconomic guidelines.

Methods: The checklist was developed using an iterative process in which items were generated and gradually added to the baseline checklist based on shortcomings identified in an analysis of Slovak EEs, using relevant published checklists, and Slovak, as well as international, methodological guidance that was identified in the systematic literature review. The selection of checklist recommendations, their clarity, and relevance to the Slovak setting were validated in the online survey.

Contribution to the concept of polypharmacy II. Prescription and use of medicines.

The study defines the basic terminological structure associated with the concepts of prescribing and medication use in relation to polypharmacy. Correctly naming the current prescription or use of a medication by a particular patient allows for the selection of an appropriate change to minimize the medication burden. The aim remains to maintain the desired therapeutic outcomes with an improved quality of life.

Contribution to the concept of polypharmacy I. Etymological notes and characteristics.

The contribution captures three basic concepts of the term polypharmacy. The analysis of four bibliographic databases demonstrates the importance of the correct and uniform use of terminology. It also approximates the most common numerical expression of the level of polypharmacy and the most common extended terms of polypharmacy.

Friction cost approach methodology in pharmacoeconomic analyses.

The use of a societal perspective in pharmacoeconomic analyses is a widely discussed topic. One of the fundamental problems of using the social perspective is the inconsistency of indirect costs calculation. We searched published articles on the use and differences of Human capital approach (HCA) and Friction cost approach (FCA) methods using the Web of Science database using keywords.