An Outline For a Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of a Drug For Patients With Alzheimer’s Disease

This article provides an outline for a cost-effectiveness analysis of a drug that slows the consequences of Alzheimer’s disease. Such an analysis cannot easily be performed for 2 main reasons. The first is that often relatives and friends, rather than professionals, take care of the patient. This means that informal care plays an important role in the analysis. However, consensus on how to value informal care is lacking. In this article, we have recommended the shadow-price method because this is an option that can be practically applied. The second reason is that the primary source of information on quality of life, the patients themselves, is unreliable because of cognitive disturbances.