In an analysis using MarketScan Commercial Database to determine the costs of biologic treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), psoriasis and ankylosing spondylitis (AS), Machaon M. Bonafede, PhD, and colleagues determined that etanercept had the lowest average cost per patient across all indica- tions. These fndings were published in Value in Health in 2013.
The patients analyzed were between 18 and 63 years of age with a diagnosis of RA, psoriasis, PsA or AS. These patients had >1 claim for one of the biologic agents selected for the comparison study between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2010. The patients needed to be continuously enrolled for 1 year to participate. For the 12 months after index, the mean monthly dose of their index biologic was calculated as well as the mean monthly dose of other agents given after the discontinuation of their index biologic. Then, to calculate the average cost per treated patient, the costs of wholesale acquisition and the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule were applied to the mean monthly dose.
According to this study, etanercept has a mean annual cost amounting to $20,508, making it the least expensive biologic agent included in this study. It was also the most commonly used agent, as it treated 32,398 of the 69,349 patients included in the study. The 20,582 patients who received adalimumab averaged $21,179 per year, and the 11,157 patients treated with infiximab averaged $23,446 per year. The cost of treatment per year for patients with psoriasis, who constituted 20% of the study population, ranged from $21,034 for adalimumab to $31,478 for ustekinumab, and the patients with RA, who constituted 55% of the population, paid $18,888 for abatacept and $22,158 for infiximab.
In an analysis using MarketScan Commercial Database to determine the costs of biologic treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), psoriasis and ankylosing spondylitis (AS), Machaon M. Bonafede, PhD, and colleagues determined that etanercept had the lowest average cost per patient across all indica- tions. These fndings were published in Value in Health in 2013.
The patients analyzed were between 18 and 63 years of age with a diagnosis of RA, psoriasis, PsA or AS. These patients had >1 claim for one of the biologic agents selected for the comparison study between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2010. The patients needed to be continuously enrolled for 1 year to participate. For the 12 months after index, the mean monthly dose of their index biologic was calculated as well as the mean monthly dose of other agents given after the discontinuation of their index biologic. Then, to calculate the average cost per treated patient, the costs of wholesale acquisition and the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule were applied to the mean monthly dose.
According to this study, etanercept has a mean annual cost amounting to $20,508, making it the least expensive biologic agent included in this study. It was also the most commonly used agent, as it treated 32,398 of the 69,349 patients included in the study. The 20,582 patients who received adalimumab averaged $21,179 per year, and the 11,157 patients treated with infiximab averaged $23,446 per year. The cost of treatment per year for patients with psoriasis, who constituted 20% of the study population, ranged from $21,034 for adalimumab to $31,478 for ustekinumab, and the patients with RA, who constituted 55% of the population, paid $18,888 for abatacept and $22,158 for infiximab.
In an analysis using MarketScan Commercial Database to determine the costs of biologic treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), psoriasis and ankylosing spondylitis (AS), Machaon M. Bonafede, PhD, and colleagues determined that etanercept had the lowest average cost per patient across all indica- tions. These fndings were published in Value in Health in 2013.
The patients analyzed were between 18 and 63 years of age with a diagnosis of RA, psoriasis, PsA or AS. These patients had >1 claim for one of the biologic agents selected for the comparison study between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2010. The patients needed to be continuously enrolled for 1 year to participate. For the 12 months after index, the mean monthly dose of their index biologic was calculated as well as the mean monthly dose of other agents given after the discontinuation of their index biologic. Then, to calculate the average cost per treated patient, the costs of wholesale acquisition and the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule were applied to the mean monthly dose.
According to this study, etanercept has a mean annual cost amounting to $20,508, making it the least expensive biologic agent included in this study. It was also the most commonly used agent, as it treated 32,398 of the 69,349 patients included in the study. The 20,582 patients who received adalimumab averaged $21,179 per year, and the 11,157 patients treated with infiximab averaged $23,446 per year. The cost of treatment per year for patients with psoriasis, who constituted 20% of the study population, ranged from $21,034 for adalimumab to $31,478 for ustekinumab, and the patients with RA, who constituted 55% of the population, paid $18,888 for abatacept and $22,158 for infiximab.
