Cost-effectiveness of teduglutide in adult patients with short bowel syndrome - a European socioeconomic perspective.

BACKGROUND

Short bowel syndrome with intestinal failure (SBS-IF) is a rare but devastating medical condition. An absolute loss of bowel length forces the patients into parenteral support dependency and a variety of medical sequelae, resulting in increased morbidity and mortality. Interdisciplinary treatment may include therapy with the effective but expensive intestinotrophic peptide teduglutide.

OBJECTIVES

A time-discrete Markov model was developed to simulate the treatment effect [lifetime costs, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), and life years (LYs)] of teduglutide plus best supportive care compared with best supportive care alone in patients with SBS-IF.

METHODS

The health status of the model was structured around the number of days on PS. Clinical data from 3 data sets were used: 1) an Austrian observational study (base case), 2) pooled observational cohort studies, and 3) a prospective study of teduglutide effectiveness in parenteral nutrition-dependent short bowel syndrome subjects. Direct and indirect costs were derived from published sources. QALYs, LYs, and costs were discounted (3% per annum).

RESULTS

Under the base case assumption, teduglutide is associated with costs of 2,296,311 € per patient and 10.78 QALYs (13.74 LYs) over a lifetime horizon. No teduglutide is associated with 1,236,816 € and 2.24 QALYs (8.57 LYs). The incremental cost-utility ratio (ICUR) amounts to 123,945 €. In case of the pooled clinical data set, the ICUR increases to 184,961 €. If clinical data based on the study of teduglutide effectiveness in parenteral nutrition-dependent short bowel syndrome subjects were used, the ICUR increased to 235,612 €.

CONCLUSIONS

Teduglutide in treating patients with SBS-IF meets the traditional cost-effectiveness criteria from a European societal perspective. Nevertheless, the varying concentrations of teduglutide efficacy leave a degree of uncertainty in the calculations.