OBJECTIVES: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic, autoimmune disease with a prevalence of nearly 1% worldwide. Patients become candidates for biological therapy when the disease activity continues in moderate or severe disease activity. Some of the biological medications recommended for the treatment for RA are administrated in a hospital or infusion setting center. The aim of this study was to estimate the costs related to the infusion therapy for patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

METHODS: We retrospectively conducted a cost-descriptive analysis using a bottom-up approach. During a 12-month period, we estimated the costs of biological therapy for patients that required monitoring in an infusion room (Infliximab, Golimumab, Tocilizumab, Abatacept and Rituximab). We costed the following items: biological therapy, time spent providing care (nurse), time spent in the infusion preparation (pharmaceutical chemistry), and the materials and supplies needed for each patient in the infusion therapy. We reported the costs in US dollars using the official rate of exchange for December 2017.

RESULTS: During 2017 we included 185 patients that required the administration of biological therapy in an infusion room therapy. The cost for each patient treated per year was USD$13.004 for Golimumab, USD$8736 for Tocilizumab, USD$8.227 for Abatacept, USD$5.518 for Infliximab, and USD for $4059 Rituximab. The total cost for treating all patients was $1.531.010 million US dollars.

CONCLUSIONS: Biological therapy represents a high cost associated to RA care. Additionally, personnel and supplies add 7% overhead costs to the therapy. Compared to other studies, our cost estimations are ten time less than studies carried out in hospitals from the United States. This micro-costing analysis is an important input for stakeholders and decision makers about the financial impact of the usage of biological therapy in patients with RA.