To explore the use of willingness-to-pay (WTP) methods with respect to an antagonist of tumour necrosis factor as an antirheumatic drug.
One hundred and fifteen rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients at a tertiary care centre in Odense, Denmark were interviewed using two WTP approaches, the contingent ranking and double-bounded (closed-ended) methods.
The average closed-ended WTP value was DKr581 and the average contingent ranking WTP was DKr643. There were no statistically significant differences in the WTP estimates between the two methods.
It is feasible to use these methods with arthritis patients. If, as suggested in a number of recent reviews, a major effort is to be put into undertaking economic appraisals of arthritis programmes, then this should include more cost-benefit studies using WTP approaches of the kind illustrated in this paper.