Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/4239 
Year of Publication: 
2007
Series/Report no.: 
Kiel Working Paper No. 1371
Publisher: 
Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW), Kiel
Abstract: 
This paper develops a real options approach to the optimal sequencing of antiretroviral drug cocktails for HIV/AIDS patients in resource-poor settings. The analysis focuses on the implications of endogenous resistance mutations in the virus that reduce or eliminate the effectiveness of individual drugs within a cocktail when lack of laboratory equipment prevents these from being identified. Using a model with two drug cocktails, we show that the first-line therapy should be introduced later than in the case without resistance mutations and that the second-line therapy should be introduced earlier. We go on to discuss implications for comparative cost-effectiveness analyses.
Subjects: 
Real option theory
Cost-effectiveness analysis
Combination therapy
Developing countries
HIV/AIDS
JEL: 
D81
H51
I12
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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