The comparison of incremental cost-utility ratios is only one step in an economic analysis. It permits the comparison of the use of scarce resources at the margin but does not measure the overall impact of adopting a new drug on health care resources. For example, treatments for diseases that are rare may result in a relatively small total cost to the province when patients are treated with a newer, more expensive pharmaceutical product. An economic analysis should therefore project the total incremental cost to the province associated with the adoption of a new pharmaceutical product.

Manufacturers can expect that products that result in large incremental expenditures to the Ontario Drug Benefit Program will require a much more detailed and rigorous economic analysis than those that will affect a very small number of patients and therefore have a small impact on overall costs.

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