Economic evaluation of chronic hepatitis C treatment by interferon-ribavirin combination therapy in Belgium

With present treatments for chronic hepatitis C by the combination of interferon alpha and ribavirin, it is possible to obtain a sustained viral response in a large number of patients. This viral response is associated with long-term disappearance of the C virus, improvement of histology, improvement in quality of life and, most than likely, a reduction in the risk of premature death or infection-linked complications. This therapy is, however, expensive and the number of potentially treatable patients is high in view of the relatively high prevalence of the disease in the population. An economic evaluation is thus indispensable in order, on the one hand, to assess the cost-effectiveness ratio of the treatment (i.e. the extra cost to be paid for obtaining the greater effectiveness provided by the therapeutic combination in comparison with absence of treatment or treatment by interferon alone), and, on the other hand, to estimate practically the global cost of treatment for Belgium (i.e. the annual expense for society according to the number of patients treated per year).