
Selecting The Cost Effective
Antimicrobial : Quandary Of Medical Profession!
806-814
Correspondence
Dr.Dang A, Room no. 8, ground floor Residents hostel (GARD), Goa medical College,Bambolim, Goa-403202, Mobile no. 09764001983, E-mail address: dramit_gmc@rediffmail.com
Background: Antimicrobial costs vary tremendously. It is difficult to make a decision whilst selecting a cost-effective antimicrobial in clinical practice. Prescribing costly antimicrobials can have a negative impact on patient’s compliance.
Aims: a) To compare the average retail price of different antimicrobials available in oral and parenteral dosage forms and calculate the cost of one day therapy. 2) To select and justify the use of certain antimicrobials as the most cost-effective in common microbial infections. Methods and materials: Pricelist of available antimicrobial brands was procured from IDR official site. Average price of commonly available oral and parenteral brands of antimicrobials was calculated. Cost of one day therapy was also calculated. Difference between oral and parenteral cost was observed.
Results and discussion: Study revealed that doxycycline and cotrimoxazole are the cheapest antimicrobials and ceftibuten is most expensive oral antimicrobial. Aztreonam is the most expensive parenteral antimicrobial in contrast to gentamicin which is the cheapest. A lot of take home messages and strategies are discussed. In general, parenteral dosage forms are more expensive than the oral dosage forms. The cost of one tablet is not directly proportional to the cost of therapy as the dosage of different antimicrobials vary. Long acting expensive drugs may ultimately end up being cheaper than the short acting counterparts. Costly antimicrobials need not be the better ones. Reducing the antimicrobial cost should remain our prime motive, and hence cost-effective antimicrobials should be selected, based on one’s knowledge , so that the drug costs are reduced while maintaining good quality of care.