Observational studyOphthalmology2019
Comparison of United States and International Ophthalmic Drug Pricing.
Observational study in Ophthalmology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- A Global Comparison of Liver Transplant Drug Pricing: US Versus Other G7 Countries and Australia.Transplantation direct · 2025Article
- Prediction of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor agent-specific treatment outcomes in neovascular age-related macular degeneration using a generative adversarial network.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Investigation of the Trend of Selecting Anti-Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Agents for the Initial Treatment of Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy.Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Article
- Ophthalmic Medication Expenditures and Out-of-Pocket Spending: An Analysis of United States Prescriptions from 2007 through 2016.Ophthalmology · 2020Article
- Ophthalmic medication price variation across the United States: Anti-inflammatory medications.Therapeutic advances in ophthalmologyArticle
- Barriers to Adherence with Corticosteroid Eye Drops in Patients with Uveitis.Journal of current ophthalmologyArticle
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Commented on byReply.2019
Authors and funding
10 authors at 5 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
Abstract
purposeTo compare United States and international drug pricing for commonly prescribed intravitreal and topical ophthalmic medications.
designCross-sectional observational study.
methodsFor 25 commonly used ophthalmic medications (3 intravitreal, 22 topical), we obtained 2017 third quarter United States average wholesale price (AWP), drug acquisition cost, or consumer pricing through United States government health insurance plans (Veterans Affairs [VA], Medicaid, Medicare Part B, and Medicare Part D) and commercial drug plans (CVS Caremark and Navitus Health Solutions), online pricing without insurance through a large United States warehouse retailer (Costco), and international drug pricing through government-sponsored health plans in Italy, Spain, Turkey, Canada, and Japan.
main outcome measuresDrug acquisition costs and consumer pricing of ophthalmic drugs through various payment systems. All prices were converted to United States dollars.
resultsFor intravitreal medications in the United States, aflibercept and ranibizumab were priced similarly to each other and were more expensive than dexamethasone implants. Pricing of aflibercept and ranibizumab through government health insurance plans in Italy, Spain, Turkey, Canada, and Japan were less expensive by as much as 84.3% compared with the United States. For topical medications in the United States, pricing varied significantly both across different classes of medications and also between nonbranded and branded medications. Drug acquisition costs through the VA and Medicaid were inexpensive on average, but pricing through a hospital-employee drug insurance plan offered the smallest range (between $2.35 and $60.00). In all 5 non-United States countries studied, each topical medication with the exceptions of cyclosporine emulsion and difluprednate was less than $100, and 94.4% of topical medications in these countries had a nonbranded or branded option that was less than $50.
conclusionsIn the United States, for topical more than intravitreal medications, significant price variation exists across both different drug pricing systems and different medications. Price differentials between nonbranded and branded medications can be significant. Internationally, topical medications exhibited a more limited and lower price range compared with drug pricing in the United States.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.