Budget Impact Analysis of Fidaxomicin Versus Vancomycin for the Treatment of Clostridioides difficile Infection in the United States.

Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is a common hospital-acquired infection that affects about half a million people in the US each year. In some patients who have already had CDI, it can recur. These recurrent infections can be difficult to treat, and they place a burden on the healthcare system. CDI is usually treated with the antibiotics fidaxomicin or vancomycin. Fidaxomicin is as effective as vancomycin for treating CDI but is even more effective than vancomycin at preventing CDI recurrence. However, fidaxomicin is more expensive. In this study, we estimated the impact of replacing vancomycin with fidaxomicin for treating CDI on the budget of a typical US hospital. We estimated that treating 15% of patients with CDI using fidaxomicin in place of vancomycin would save the hospital between $1105 and $1150 in a year. This means that despite the higher cost of fidaxomicin, treating as few as 15% of patients with CDI using fidaxomicin instead of vancomycin can be cost-saving for hospitals.