PHARMACOECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS WHEN EVALUATING TREATMENT OPTIONS FORMAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDER

The goal of this paper is to increase the psychiatrist's awareness of issues and methods in pharmacoeconomics with the hope that this will l ead to greater physician involvement in the ongoing cost-management de bates. This paper will first examine the underlying dynamics of health economics as they relate to the treatment of major depressive disorde r. It will then discuss cost-benefit factors in antidepressant pharmac otherapy with special focus on the economic implications of clinically relevant differences among antidepressant drug classes. The paper end s with a review of methods for the economic analysis of drug therapies and a discussion of research needs in this area.