The cost-effectiveness of fluvastatin in Hungary following successful percutaneous coronary intervention.

BACKGROUND: The Lescol Intervention Prevention Study (LIPS) showed substantial gains in health outcomes from statins following PCI. That study was a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial undertaken in 77 centres, predominantly in Europe, of patients with moderate hypercholesterolemia who had undergone their first PCI. The evidence on cost-effectiveness has been established for the UK, USA and the Netherlands, but due to different health system cost structures, the results may not be applicable to other European countries. The aim of this study was to estimate the cost-effectiveness of fluvastatin used following first PCI in Hungary. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A deterministic Markov model was used to estimate the incremental costs per quality-adjusted life year gained, with cost data drawn from the Hungarian National Health Insurance Fund. Effectiveness data on fluvastatin was derived directly from LIPS and utility weights from previous studies on heart disease. Sensitivity analyses were conducted around key parameters and analyses were conducted for subgroups identified in LIPS. RESULTS: Treatment with fluvastatin cost an additional 1,704 euro and resulted in an additional 0.107 QALYs per patient discounted over 10-years compared with controls. The incremental cost per quality-adjusted life year gained was 15,910 euro. The key determinants of cost-effectiveness were the effectiveness of fluvastatin, utility weights, cost of fluvastatin, and the time horizon evaluated. Fluvastatin was substantially more cost-effective in patients with diabetes, renal disease, multi-vessel disease or LDL-cholesterol >3.4 mmol/l. CONCLUSIONS: Fluvastatin is an economically efficient pharmaceutical for reducing heart disease in Hungary and other European countries in patients following PCI.

Health care reform in six Central European countries. A focus on health economic requirements in the drug pricing and reimbursement processes.

This study gives an overview of the health care reform in six Central European countries after the transition from a central planning system to a regulated market economy. We focused on cost containment policies for drugs, especially the requirements for submitting health economic data in the pricing and/or reimbursement processes. The literature review was supplemented with a survey with decision makers at national health authorities in each country. The study covered Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. All countries had in common that health economic information was used in reimbursement rather than in pricing processes. Differences between the six countries were mainly variations in the relative importance of health economic data and the presence of explicit requirements and guidelines. Published health economic guidelines exist in two countries and one of the six countries applies a mandatory submission system for a selected range of new drugs. In most of the Central European countries it is more typical that authorities issue a brief list of required data for reimbursement submissions that include health economic information among other data. There is a generally widespread expectation towards more systematic and formalized requirements for health economic and outcomes research data appearing within the next 3-5 years in the region.