Estimation of the cost of treatment by chemotherapy for early breast cancer in Morocco

The main goal of this paper is to estimate the total cost of chemotherapy in the early stages of breast cancer due to its frequency and the chances of patients being cured. This study provides health decision-makers with a first estimate of costs and the opportunity to achieve the optimal use of available data to estimate the needs of antimitotics and trastuzumab in Morocco.We start by evaluating the individual cost according to the therapeutic sub-groups, namely:1. Patients needing chemotherapy with only anthracycline-based therapy.2. Patients needing chemotherapy with both anthracycline and taxane but without trastuzumab.3. Patients needing trastuzumab in addition to chemotherapy.For each sub-group, the protocol of treatment is described, and the individual costs per unit, and for the whole cycle, are evaluated.Then we estimate the number of women suffering from breast cancer on the basis of two data bases available in Morocco.Finally, we calculate the total annual cost of treatment of breast cancer in Morocco.The total cost of breast cancer in Morocco is given in Moroccan dirhams (MAD), the US dollar at the current exchange rate (MAD 10 = USD 1.30) and in international dollars or purchasing power parity (MAD 10 = PPP 1.95).The cost of a therapy with trastuzumab is 8.4 times the cost of a sequential chemotherapy combining anthracycline and taxane, and nearly 60 times the cost of chemotherapy based on anthracycline alone.Globally, between USD 13.3 million and USD 28.6 million need to be devoted every year by the Moroccan health authorities to treat women with localized breast cancer in keeping with international recommendations.According to our estimation methods, the complete cost of adjuvant chemotherapy including trastuzumab will range from 1.3 to 2.4% of the global budget of the Moroccan Health Department (MAD 9.8 billion or USD 1.274 billion). Unfortunately, only one-third of the Moroccan population has healthcare insurance whereas for each patient the treatme