• Subject Areas
   – Energy & the Environment
   – First Nations
   – Health
   – Justice
   – Labour Market & Education
   – Regulatory Impacts
   – Research & Development
   – Safety
• Techniques
• Publications
• HBHC Evaluation

Janssen-Ortho Inc.

Janssen-Ortho Inc. retained our firm to design and conduct a willingness-to-pay study for the product Eprex (recombinant erythropoietin).

Our team designed a questionnaire that describes the risks involved in receiving a transfusion from the blood bank (homologous blood), receiving a transfusion of blood that patient has donated (autogolous blood) and Eprex. The questionnaire uses a “bidding game” to assess willingness-to-pay under two conditions: an additional tax that all Canadians would pay annually to ensure that Eprex is available to any Canadian who needed it; a lump-sum payment individuals would have to pay out of their own pocket to have access to the drug. Canadian Facts administered the survey in-person in 1,600 households across Canada.

To add to our understanding of the willingness-to-pay for the product, Janssen-Ortho asked us to extend the study to 300 pre-operative patients on the waiting list for major orthopedic surgery (hip or back) or cardiac surgery (involving bypass).

Our firm recruited surgeons to participate in the study at three sites for each of cardiac and orthopedic surgery. We extended the general population questionnaire to include information specific to the planned surgery and used either a research nurse from the hospital or a Canadian Facts interviewer to complete the interview.

Results of the two studies were combined and submitted to the Krever Commission on the blood supply and to refereed journals.