Affiliations: SPKMD and Associates, Harrisburg, PA, USA | Central Neurological Services, Harrisburg, PA, USA | Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA | Department of Public Health Sciences, Penn State Hershey College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA
Note: [] Address for correspondence: G. Caleb Alexander, MD, MS, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, 615 N. Wolfe Street W6035, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA. Tel.: +1 410 955 8168; Fax: +1 410 955 0863; E-mail: galexand@jhsph.edu
Abstract: Public and private payers use drug compendia to make coverage determinations, yet the quality of evidence they contain has received little scrutiny. We examined compendia citations regarding antipsychotic drugs, an important drug class given their substantial costs and widespread use. Nearly three-fold as many off-label indications were recommended for atypical as for typical agents, a difference that did not appear to be due to differences in quality of evidence for typical and atypical off-label indications. Given the important role that compendia play in evidence synthesis, coverage decisions, and ultimately, prescription utilization, these data suggest greater efforts are needed to improve the quality of evidence and transparency of evidence evaluations compendia contain.
Keywords: Drug compendia, antipsychotics, resource utilization, conflict of interest, recommendations for use
