OBJECTIVES: Capecitabine  (C) is approved in Brazil to treat colorectal cancer CRC, and can replace the combination of 5fluorouracl (5FU) and folinic acid (FA) in many chemotherapy (CHEMO) combination. There are restrictions to their use in the private sector in Brazil, as oral  (PO) CHEMO is not covered by health insurance plans (HI). For many patients and physicians, a PO option is preferred over the intravenous (IV) . Our aim was to study the budgetary impact linked to the use of C for the treatment of CRC in HI. METHODS: We searched Evidencias Database for CRC patients eligible for the use of C, in the year of 2008. This database has information from over 2 million of users of 14 HI. We calculated the costs of the IV chemo actually used (mainly combinations of 5FU-FA with oxaliplatin and irinotecan). We calculated the costs of the drug used and, when appropriate, the infusion pump to deliver 5FU by continuous infusion. Then, based on the real data of each individual patient, we calculated the costs if C replaced 5FU-FA in the CHEMO. We assumed both treatments would have the same efficacy, as reported in the literature. RESULTS: We found 315 records of CRC patients that used IV Chemo and could replace it by C. These patients received 2706 cycles of treatment and had an actual total cost of US$7,237,000 (85% of them refers to the CHEMO drugs only). If C replace  5FU-FA in the IV CHEMO, the total cost would drop 9.5%, to US$6,804,000, mainly due to the exclusion of the need of an infusion pump. CONCLUSIONS: The use of C to treat CRC is linked to a smaller cost than the IV alternative in the private health plans in Brazil.