Objective: To explore the use of willingness-to-pay (WTP) methods with respect to an antagonist of tumour necrosis factor as an antirheumatic drug.
Methods: One hundred and fifteen rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients at a tertiary care centre in Odense, Denmark were interviewed using two WTP approaches, the contingent ranking and double-bounded (closed-ended) methods.
Results: The average closed-ended WTP value was DKr581 and the average contingent ranking WTP was DKr643. There were no statistically significant differences in the WTP estimates between the two methods.
Conclusion: It is feasible to use these methods with arthritis patients. If, as suggested in a number of recent reviews, a major effort is to be put into undertaking economic appraisals of arthritis programmes, then this should include more cost-benefit studies using WTP approaches of the kind illustrated in this paper.