ABSTRACT
Economic dissimilarities among statins in terms of price, advertising, and cost-effectiveness are factors that contribute to treatment choice. Statin prices differ at all levels of the pharmaceutical market: wholesale, retail, and insured copayments. At the same time, the manufacturers of these drugs spend considerable, but varied resource, promoting these drugs to physicians and patients in the form of detailing and direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising. Coinciding with these first two economic dimensions is a vast literature that documents the cost-effectiveness of statin treatment. These estimates of cost-effectiveness are used primarily by insurers and other large drug purchasers to justify the use of one agent over another in the face of growing prescription drug costs. Together, these economic variables signal economic substitutability among statins and help determine utilization among treated individuals.
