The treatment of seasonal allergic rhinitis: cost implications of pharmacotherapy for managed care.

Seasonal allergic rhinitis affects a large proportion of both the general and the managed care populations. Whereas matching treatment to the needs of individual patients remains somewhat of an art, decisions regarding which drugs to add to the formulary of an MCO should incorporate an assessment of a medication's efficacy and safety profile, as well as a review of the overall costs associated with its utilization. Recognizing that the overall costs of drug utilization include more than the actual price of a prescription, a utilization analysis of annual drug therapy was undertaken. The results of this recent study demonstrate that fewer prescriptions and lower costs were associated with certain products. In this study, azelastine nasal spray was associated with an overall lower cost of pharmacotherapy.