Correction and author’s response to comment on: “Modern management of seizures and epilepsy”

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4414/smw.2017.14414

Markus Gschwind, Margitta Seeck

EEG and Epilepsy Unit, University Hospital of Geneva,

Correction and author’s response to comment on: “Modern management of seizures and epilepsy”

We would like to thank Dr Körschenhausen [1] for his careful reading of our article [2]. We apologise for any misunderstanding. Our calculation was based on the price from the French version of the Swiss compendium of medicines (http://compendium.ch/search/vimpat/fr), where the only listed price for Vimpat® 150 mg tablets is the 14-tablet package at CHF 67.35. Consequently we had calculated: CHF 67.35 per package / 14 tablets × 2 per day = CHF 9.62.

Based on the Spezialitätenliste, as pointed out to us by the Dr Körschenhausen (https://bag.e-mediat.net/SL2007.Web.External/ShowPreparations.aspx), the price of Vimpat for the pack of 56 tablets is CHF 209.95 per pack / 56 tablets × 2 per day = CHF 7.5. Since we were not aware of the Spezialitätenliste, we based our calculation on the prices listed in the Swiss compendium.

The price of Fycompa® has been reduced by CHF 10.8 since the initial submission of our manuscript on 3 November 2015. The current pack price of Fycompa® is now CHF 224.1 (28 tablets, for all strengths), which results in a minor change from CHF 8.4 to CHF 8.0 per day. We would like to point out that this price is also different from the one calculated by Dr Körschenhausen. He identified the daily price of Fycompa on the basis of a pack price of CHF 234.9, which is no longer current (see also archives of the BAG, file of December: Publications_20151201.xls).

We suggest that the pricing information in the Swiss compendium should be harmonised and updated to avoid similar errors.

We propose to add this information, explaining the source of our error, and also to add the following footnote to table 5:

NOTE: Price calculations represent the situation as of 31 December 2015.

We stress the need for unified and easily accessible price lists.

Correspondence:, Margitta Seeck, EEG and Epilepsy Unit, University Hospital of Geneva, CH-1211 Geneva 4, margitta.seeck[at]hcuge.ch

References

1 Körschenhausen D . Comment on: “Modern management of seizures and epilepsy. Swiss Med Wkly. 2016;146:w14413. 

2 Gschwind M , Seeck M . Modern management of seizures and epilepsy. Swiss Med Wkly. 2016;146:w14310. doi:.https://doi.org/10.4414/smw.2016.14310