Costs for triptan treatment have been estimated by using publicly available data on prescription costs and IMS data on utilization patterns. Price information was obtained by calculating the average retail price for triptans, based on data published at www.drugstore.com on January 4, 2005. We then applied a discount to the average retail cost per prescription, since employers and/or their health plans typically negotiate with pharmaceutical manufacturers to obtain discounted prices for their employees/members. While discounts resulting from these negotiations obviously vary, we assumed a 15% discount for purposes of this model, based on our analysis of publicly available information (Eastern Research Group, 2001).

Information on average triptan utilization per patient comes from actual prescription data (IMS, 2005). The average annual units dispensed were about 38 units (pills) for women and 35 units (pills) for men. The average number of units per prescription was about 9.

	Back