Table 1

Initial and final sum score and ranking by patients and final ranking by rheumatologists of the attributes during the nominal group technique meetings (order of attributes according to patients’ final rank)

Attributes	Patients (n=19)				Rheumatologists (n=5)
Attributes	Initial sum score*	Initial rank	Final sum score*	Final rank	Rank
Effectiveness	26	1	26	1	1
Side effects	53	2	53	2	2
Interactions with concomitant medications	77	3	78	3	6
Biological mechanism of action	96	4	93†	4	4
Combination therapy required	101	6	93†	5	5
Frequency of administration	97	5	98	6	3
Out-of-pocket cost	137	7	141	7	7
Time on market	146	8	146	8	8
Branded or generic specification	151	9	155	9	9
Cost for the society	161	10	162	10	10

*Sum score of the ranks provides to the patients across all nominal group technique meetings in which ‘1’ indicate the most important attribute.
†Equal final sum score by patients, but biological mechanism of action was more often (36% vs 11%) prioritised in the top three as attribute.