Pharmacoeconomics Committee
Chair: Prof. Annick Rousseau, INSERM U850, Faculty of Pharmacy, University Limoges, France. E-mail: annick.rousseau@unilim.fr
Membership list:
Germany: Lutz Binder, Göttingen.
Netherlands: Kees Neef, Enschede, Daan Touw, The Hague.
UK: Philip Patsalos, London.
USA: Jim Nichols, Springfield, MA, Sander Vinks (past-chair), Cincinnati, OH, Phil
Walson, Cincinnati, OH.
France: Annick Rousseau, Limoges.
ANNUAL REPORT 2007-2008
UNC-CERT Development of a model pediatric Therapeutic Drug Monitoring
service to cost effectively improve patient outcomes (Drs. Walson and Vinks).
This project was part of the Center for Education and Research on Therapeutics
(CERT) program and has ended. The basic hypothesis to be tested was that
properly run, model pediatric TDM services can be shown to provide a cost
effective way to improve pediatric care. The following specific aims have been
finalized:
1) Developed methods to collect baseline and ongoing clinical and economic data
for children receiving an aminoglycoside during their hospitalization at one of the
pediatric hospitals.
2) A web-based data collection system has been developed to meet the needs of
the TDM services housed and supported at the UNC CERT administrative office.
We are waiting for the final data analysis from the CERT center at North
Carolina.
Presentations and activities related to contemporary TDM, cost-effectiveness and IATDMCT:
1. Dr Touw participated in a pro-con discussion about therapeutic drug
monitoring in neonates during the EACPT 2007 conference in December.
2. Dr. Vinks. Invited speaker, American Association of Clinical Chemistry,
2007 Annual Meeting, ‘Contemporary Therapeutic Drug management:
Merging Drug Concentrations, Biomarkers, Pharmacogenetics and
Informatics’, San Diego, CA, July 16-19, 2007
3. Dr. Vinks Invited expert. 47th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial
Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC), Meet the Expert: “Contemporary
Therapeutic Drug Monitoring of anti-infective agents” Chicago, September
16-20, 2007.
4. Dr. Vinks. Symposium Chair and speaker. Annual Meeting. American
Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (ASCPT). “Transitioning
Immunosuppressive Drug Management through the Application of Novel
Biomarkers: What’s here, what’s near?” Orlando, FL, April 2-5, 2008.
Publications on behalf of committee:
Touw DJ, Neef C, Thomson AH, Vinks AA. Cost-effectiveness of Therapeutic Drug
Monitoring: An Update. Eur. J. Hosp. Pharm. 2007.
(B) List of objectives for the next year:
1. Share experiences regarding local activities related to cost-effectiveness studies
with committee and other members.
2. Continue the search for funding to enable execution of “model” multicenter TDM
cost-effectiveness studies.
3. Establish a guidelines document for prospective TDM cost-effectiveness studies.
(C) Topics of current interest and discussion:
a. Which elements are needed to serve as guidelines for the proper design and
execution of multi-center, multi-country TDM cost-effectiveness studies?
b. Development of practical educational materials for cost-effectiveness studies.
c. Need to expand membership to include interested members from all different parts
of the world.
(D) Committee members available for speaking engagements on topics of interest to the committee:
Daan J. Touw, The Hague, The Netherlands
Alexander A. Vinks, Cincinnati, USA
Phillip D. Walson, Cincinnati, USA
(E) Professional associations for joint meetings, ventures and Web site hyperlinks:
International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE)
American Society of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (ASCPT)
American Society for Microbiology (ASM)
