Assessment of off-label prescribing: profile, evidence and evolution.

Objectives: The objectives of the study were to describe the extent and profile of off-label prescriptions, to evaluate the level of evidence supporting these indications, to assess the research activity in these conditions, and to determine to what extent these were authorized as new indications five years after the application.

Methods: A cross-sectional study including all applications conducted in the Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía in Córdoba during 2010.

Analysis:  level of evidence according to the criteria by SIGN-NICE (Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) and CEBM (Centre for Evidence-based Medicine), registered clinical trials (source: ClinicalTrials.

Economic evaluation of botulinum toxin versus thoracic sympathectomy for palmar hyperhidrosis: data from a real-world scenario.

Introduction: Local botulinum toxin injections and endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy (ETS) have shown clinical effectiveness for the treatment of palmar hyperhidrosis in several studies. Although both strategies cause considerable costs for health-care systems, at the moment there are no studies examining directly their cost-effectiveness performance. The aim of the study was to assess the incremental cost-effectiveness of botulinum toxin when compared with ETS for palmar hyperhidrosis.

Stockout risk analysis and minimization applied to hospital pharmacy management.

Objective: To determine how many dispensary drugs should be in the safety stock in a tertiary hospital in accordance with the risk level and the number of days that the hospital is able to withstand a stockout.

Methods: We statistically analysed the infliximab order recorded over a period of 120 days. This drug is relevant for this study as it is costly and is immediately supplied to the clinic.