Ghaemi S N, Ziegler D M, Peachey T J, Goodwin F K
Center on Neuroscience, Medical Progress, and Society of George Washington University, Washington, DC 20037, USA.
Psychiatr Serv. 1998 Jun;49(6):829-31. doi: 10.1176/ps.49.6.829.
The cost-effectiveness of using the atypical antipsychotic medication clozapine for severe psychosis was examined in a rural public-sector community mental health setting in Virginia. Based on a sample of 20 patients, use of clozapine resulted in estimated cost savings of between $3,000 and $9,000 per patient per year, including the costs of dropouts from treatment. Savings were mainly due to a decline in hospitalization from 47.7+/-59.8 days per patient in the year before clozapine treatment to 4.6+/-11.3 days in the year after. Although this study had methodological limitations, the results suggest that clozapine may be cost-effective in this setting.
