Introduction: Pharmacoeconomics (PE) treats the problems of pharmacotherapy policy, drug marketing and reimbursement and clinical trials. It guides policy makers for effective health resources utilization and determines the profitability of the new drugs on the basis of their price, efficacy and benefits for society. Types of health costs and pharmacoeconomic analyses: In the current review the main types of health costs are discussed. The main PE analyses with their advantages and disadvantages are presented. Pharmacoeconomic of bronchial asthma: The main aspects of PE of bronchial asthma are available in the current review. The costs of health services (direct and indirect), the educational programs and asthma medications in different countries are discussed. Recently published data showed correlation between asthma cost and disease severity, control, social status and therapy adherence.
Conclusion: PE analyses provide the benefit of making cost consistent decisions in the field of asthma care. This review adds more data on the cost of current asthma treatment worldwide and in Bulgaria.
Keywords: asthma; cost; pharmacoeconomics.