OBJECTIVES : Estimation of healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) cost, like drug administration and drug monitoring costs, is a crucial part of an economic evaluation and slight variation can substantially impact the decision of the economic analysis. With more countries adopting economic evaluations as part of their Health Technology Assessment (HTA) submissions, identifying country specific HCRU costs has become an important process. The precise estimation of these costs through comprehensive methodology is essential for optimal decision making. The objective of this study was to estimate and assess drug administration and drug monitoring costs across different disease modifying therapies for the management of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in the United Kingdom (UK).

METHODS : A Microsoft Excel^® based HCRU cost calculator was developed for different multiple sclerosis drugs. The HCRU requirements were extracted from the Summary of Product Characteristics and Food and Drug Administration. The HCRU cost data was extracted from the National Health Service costs and Personal Social Service Research Unit. All HCRU requirements were interpreted to estimate annual cost in the real-world scenario.

RESULTS : The annual administration cost per patient was estimated to be highest for natalizumab followed by alemtuzumab and ocrelizumab. The annual monitoring cost per patient was estimated to be highest for natalizumab followed by dimethyl fumarate and alemtuzumab. Overall, highest annual HCRU cost per patient was associated with natalizumab followed by alemtuzumab and ocrelizumab.

CONCLUSIONS : The careful assessment of HCRU requirements in addition to drug cost should be assessed in order to have pragmatic economic evaluation in MS management. The HCRU cost calculator methodology could be useful to study real-world effectiveness & utilization patterns across different therapy areas, globally.