Cost‐benefit evaluation of a new technology for treatment of peptic ulcer disease

Psychosocial benefit resists monetary expression. However, reduction in costs, with no loss of benefits assumed, improves a cost‐benefit ratio. The effect of cimetidine on the costs of ulcer has been widely studied. Randomized clinical trials show reductions in surgery and work loss among cimetidine‐treated patients versus placebo controls. In the community, time series studies have documented drops in ulcer surgery, averaging about 25% below the expected trend line, following marketing introduction of the drug. These, plus a cross‐sectional study of Medicaid patients with and without use of cimetidine, indicate that the drug has reduced the net direct costs of ulcer disease.