Assessing individualized medicine—the example of immunoadsorption

Abstract

Biomarkers can be used for the prediction of treatment response within the context of widespread diseases. The aim of this contribution is to address this issue from the economic perspective. Based on time studies and investigations of used resources at the University Medicine Greifswald some preliminary results for the costs of the Immunoadsorption therapy with subsequent IgG (IA/IgG) substitution and the corresponding gene expression analysis are provided. Under the current setting the latter can be regarded as diagnostics for deciding, if IA/IgG is appropriate. Currently, both parts of the IM tandem are not implemented in combination in clinical routine. It is argued that the reimbursement system has a critical role for providing incentives for health care providers to translate research into routine. In addition some preliminary results of outcome evaluation based on disease-related quality of life are provided.