The multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurologic disease that is characterized by a progressive demielinization of the white matter of the central nervous system. In the lasts decades, several therapies have been introduced after randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trials. These trials supported the efficacy of Interferon-beta (INF- b) in reducing relapsing frequency and slowing the progressive disability, mainly in cases affected by relapsing- remitting MS course. In Italy four different preparations of INF-b are available for MS treatment having different INF-b types (i.e., INF-b1a e INF-b1b), different administration schemes, different INF-b doses and ways of administration. Recently, the biological activity of these preparations have been compared using the same assay system against the same INF-b standard. The aim of this study was to carry out a cost-minimization analysis, on the MS treatments in Italy comparing of the available preparations in terms of cost per microgram standardized by the level of biological activity. The economic evaluation has been conducted adopting the hospital perspective. Health resources have been valued considering euro currency during 2004. According to registered treatment protocol, the results showed that the micrograms per week of INF-b standardized by the level of biological activity ranged from 30mg of Avonex® to 132mg of Rebif44®. Under the same levels of biological activity, Rebif44® resulted the INF-b preparation with the lower cost per micrograms (1.95 euro), followed by Rebif®22 and Betaferon® that had a similar cost (2.90 e 2.97 respectively). Avonex® resulted the INF-b preparation with the highest cost per micrograms (6,37 euro), about three times higher than that of the preparation with the lowest cost.
