Budget Impact of Intravenous Iron Therapy with Ferric Carboxymaltose in Patients with Chronic Heart Failure with Reduced Ejection Fraction (HFrEF) and Iron Deficiency in Switzerland.

AIMS: A budget impact analysis compared treating patients with heart failure (HF) and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and iron deficiency (ID) in Switzerland with intravenous ferric carboxymaltose (FCM) or placebo. METHODS: Clinical data from four international randomized trials showed that FCM versus placebo treatment was associated with a reduced hospitalization rate due to HF. The budget impact of this was modelled over 1 year. Hospital treatment costs for HFrEF, FCM drug costs, and estimated patient numbers were based on published data, official tariffs, specially commissioned analyses of SwissDRG data, and clinical and diagnosis-related groups (DRG) coding expert opinion. The original cost year was 2015. Sensitivity analyses were conducted including updated unit costs from 2019/2020. RESULTS: FCM treatment was associated with average cost savings of Swiss Francs (SFr) 503 per patient per year from the perspective of the Swiss mandatory health insurance system. Extrapolating across all eligible HFrEF patients with ID in Switzerland, this amounted to estimated savings of SFr 23,336,873. Sensitivity analyses showed these results to be robust in the face of changes to input parameters like treatment costs, different hospital settings, updated unit costs, and including outpatient treatment and patient co-payments in the analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The present analysis shows that using FCM to treat HFrEF patients with ID in line with current guideline recommendations resulted not only in medical benefits but also in significant cost savings. The analysis also provides an example of the pitfalls of transferring economic evaluation results, even between countries with similar hospital reimbursement systems.

Cost-Effectiveness of Tisagenlecleucel in Paediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (pALL) and Adult Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) in Switzerland.

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of the present analysis was to explore the cost-effectiveness of tisagenlecleucel in relapsed or refractory (r/r) paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (pALL) and r/r adult diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in Switzerland against a range of historical standard-of-care treatments. METHODS: Two cost-utility models were constructed for the two licensed indications using similar methodologies but indication-specific data. Clinical efficacy data were based on pooled analyses of clinical trials for tisagenlecleucel (pALL: ELIANA, ENSIGN, B2101J; DLBCL: JULIET, NCT02030834) and published data for comparator treatments. Treatment effects were compared based on matching-adjusted indirect comparison (MAIC) analyses. Four clinical lymphoma and leukaemia experts provided Switzerland-specific input regarding comparators, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, clinical evidence and costs, which were used to inform the models. The base case analysis reflected the perspective of the Swiss mandatory health insurance system. Deterministic, probabilistic and scenario analyses were carried out to explore the robustness of results. RESULTS: The base case analysis resulted in incremental costs of CHF 31,961-CHF 36,419 per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained for pALL across the different comparators and CHF 113,179 for DLBCL (1 CHF = 1.09 USD). Incremental costs per life-year gained ranged between CHF 33,906-CHF 97,399 across the two indications. Including productivity gains, tisagenlecleucel was shown to be dominant (more effective and less costly) over all the comparators for pALL and to result in incremental costs per life-year gained of CHF 57,324 for DLBCL. CONCLUSION: Using hypothetical willingness-to-pay thresholds of CHF 100,000-150,000 per QALY gained, the present analysis has shown tisagenlecleucel to be a cost-effective treatment option in pALL and DLBCL.

Budget impact of parenteral iron treatment of iron deficiency: methodological issues raised by using real-life data.

OBJECTIVES: Iron deficiency is common in pregnancy, postpartum, inflammatory bowel disease, chronic kidney disease, chronic heart failure, heavy uterine bleeding, cancer and following surgery. We estimate the budget impact (BI) on the Swiss mandatory health insurance associated with substituting iron sucrose (standard) with ferric carboxymaltose (new treatment) using real-life data. METHODS: Resource use was based on recent primary data (Polyquest Prescriber Analysis, Anemia Patient Record Study in Switzerland). Personnel costs were estimated using the Swiss Tarmed fee-for-service reimbursement system. Drug costs and costs of materials used were based on official tariffs (Spezialitätenliste, MiGeL). Actual IMS sales data of both products were used to verify the BI model (1 CHF ≈ 1 USD, Jan 2013). RESULTS: Ferric carboxymaltose was associated with cost savings of 30-44 % per patient per treatment cycle compared to iron sucrose. Costs per 200/500/1,000 mg total dosage treatment cycle were CHF 101/210/420 for ferric carboxymaltose and CHF 144/375/721 for iron sucrose. This results in cost savings of CHF 22-31 million across all indications in 2009. Savings were driven by personnel cost reductions (application time and number of applications). Sensitivity analyses confirmed these cost savings, even for the higher application costs of ferric carboxymaltose, with minimum savings of CHF 17 million per year. CONCLUSIONS: Treating iron deficiency involves substantial costs to the Swiss MHI which may be reduced by substituting iron sucrose with ferric carboxymaltose. The use of real-life data raises methodological questions about the fundamental compatibility of this data with the conceptual framework of BI analysis.

Estimation of cost-of-illness in patients with psoriasis in Switzerland.

BACKGROUND: Evaluation of the current clinical treatment of psoriasis in Switzerland remains to be measured with the parameters cost-of-illness and quality of life. OBJECTIVE: To obtain data on out-of-pocket expenses, costs of outpatient/office-based care and inpatient care for psoriasis, and to extrapolate total costs by state of severity to the entire Swiss population. METHODS: 1200 retrospective surveys were distributed to patient members of the Swiss Psoriasis and Vitiligo Society, and 400 surveys to office-/hospital-based Swiss dermatologists. The reference year for data collection was 2005. Patients were stratified into three subgroups according to severity of disease. Costs of inpatient care were measured by the amount of hospital days of psoriatic patients from the Swiss Federal Hospital Statistics. RESULTS: 383 patient questionnaires, and 170 cases documented by 57 dermatologists were analyzed. Out-of-pocket expenses/costs for ambulatory care per patient and year ranged from CHF 600-1100 for mild psoriasis to CHF 2400-9900 for severe psoriasis. Including costs for inpatient care of approximately CHF 60 million, the total annual costs for psoriasis in Switzerland in 2004/5 amounted to approximately CHF 314-458 million. CONCLUSIONS: Moderate-to-severe psoriasis is associated with a significant impact on the quality of life and at least 4-fold higher costs than mild psoriasis, indicating the need for efficient control of the disease. This cost-of-illness study provides specific health economic data for future healthcare decision making, particularly with the advent of new therapeutic agents for effective psoriasis control.

Cost analysis of parenteral nutrition regimens in the intensive care unit: three-compartment bag system vs multibottle system.

BACKGROUND: Parenteral nutrition (PN) can be administered with separate bottles or as commercially prepared all-in-one systems. The aim of this study was to evaluate the overall cost of PN using the 3-compartment bag vs standard multibottle system. METHODS: Overall costs of hospital PN were calculated from expenditures (solutions, consumable items, and staff costs). Time that staff spent preparing the PN was measured to determine personnel costs; bottom-up costing was used to assign a monetary value. Standard treatment algorithms of a 10-day course of PN for a standard 70-kg patient were specified for both systems. One-way sensitivity analyses were performed to test the robustness of the model's conclusions. RESULTS: The daily total cost of the 3-compartment bag system was euro42.26 per patient whereas the total cost of the separate bottle system was euro51.62, resulting in a cost saving of euro9.36 per patient with the 3-compartment bag system. For 10 days of treatment, PN costs euro422.51 per patient for the 3-compartment system vs euro516.16 for the multibottle system. Sensitivity analyses showed that the difference in costs between the 2 systems was maintained in the face of changes in patients' nutrition requirements and personnel costs. CONCLUSIONS: The costs associated with PN using a 3-compartment bag system were lower than those associated with a multibottle system. Given the established therapeutic equivalence of the 2 systems, this study shows the 3-compartment bag system to be the system of choice to reduce costs.