Costly AIDS Treatments Save on Hospital Bills, Study Says

Despite their high prices, AIDS drug cocktails have proved their worth in the United States, saving an average of $2,000 a year in medical costs per patient by keeping people out of the hospital, Rand Corp. researchers say.

In a separate study, researchers calculated that AIDS drugs cost about $20,000 in the United States for each year of a patient’s extended life--making them a better value than many common treatments for conditions like high cholesterol, breast cancer and heart attacks.

The two cost-effectiveness studies, reported in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine, are likely to add to the fierce debate over how to expand access to HIV drugs for poor people and nations.

Christine Nadori, a medical officer at the international relief agency Doctors Without Borders, said some nations with relatively strong health systems could gain similar economic benefits.

AIDS cocktails--a combination of protease inhibitors and other drugs--have come into general use over the last five years, transforming the AIDS virus from a death sentence into a treatable condition.

The cost per patient ranges from $10,000 to $15,000 a year in the United States, putting the drugs beyond the reach of many people without adequate insurance. And many infected people go untreated in sub-Saharan Africa and nations elsewhere that cannot afford even discounted drugs.

In its study, the Rand research institute in Santa Monica coordinated the largest examination ever of the economics of those drugs. The researchers interviewed 2,864 HIV patients.

Between 1996 and 1998, the patients’ average annual medical costs slipped from $20,300 to $18,300, thanks to reduced hospital time.

“Even at these high prices, these drug therapies are a good buy,” said Dr. Samuel Bozzette, who led the study.

The researchers warned that the rise of drug-resistant strains of HIV and toxic effects from the drugs could drive up hospital costs in the future.