Pharmacoeconomics in HP-related diseases : more questions than answers

The infection of gastric mucosa by Helicobacter pylori (HP) is the commonest infection in human beings. The huge financial burden of HP infection's complications (direct and indirect costs of peptic ulcer disease and gastric malignancies, medical fees and cost of drugs in functional dyspepsia) is very difficult to evaluate. Pharmacoeconomics is at its very beginning in that field. In developing countries, many data are lacking to approach cost/benefit ratio in HP infection. The very high prevalence of HP infection is established but the true incidence of HP-associated diseases, peptic ulcer disease (PUD) and gastric cancer (GC) is not known. There is just no idea of the current (and affordable) fees for management. In developed countries, the necessity of pharmaecononidc approaches is bom because of the rapid increase of longevity and costs of medical investigations and therapies, along with economic recession and growing unemployment. Besides some real-time studies, economic models are built on historical data: prevalence and incidence of PUD and GC, direct-indirect costs and impact of HP eradication on the evolution 3