Economic evaluation of 5-grass pollen tablets versus placebo in the treatment of allergic rhinitis in adults

21Citations
Citations of this article
45Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

This article is free to access.

Abstract

Background: Allergen immunotherapy (AIT) is aimed at modifying the immune response to a causative allergen, thereby reducing clinical symptoms and symptomatic medication intake and improving quality of life. Long-term AIT research has led to the development of 5-grass pollen tablets, currently indicated for the treatment of grass pollen-induced allergic rhinitis (AR). Methods: A post-hoc analysis was conducted using the Average Adjusted Symptom Score (AAdSS) to compare the effect of treatment of AR with 5-grass pollen tablets versus placebo treatment. Using the results of the VO34.04 and VO53.06 trials and economic data, cost-effectiveness analysis of 5-grass pollen tablet treatment was performed from the Italian third-party payer perspective with cost data derived from a study of 2008 updated to 2011. Also a societal perspective was considered by using the costs related to the losses of productivity by following the human capital approach. Using the results of the analysis, the estimated receiver-operating characteristic curve was plotted to evaluate medication effectiveness in terms of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and a decision tree constructed to model the possible outcomes and costs for adults and paediatric patients with a low, medium, and high AAdSS. Finally, probabilistic sensitivity analysis was conducted to test the robustness of the results as well as their consistency at an assumed cost-effectiveness threshold of € 30,000/QALY. Results: The results indicate that compared to the placebo, the 5-grass pollen tablet treatment provides a benefit of 0.127 QALYs in medium AAdSS patients and of 0.143 QALYs in high AAdSS patients. The 5-grass pollen tablet treatment was found to cost € 1,024/QALY for patients with a medium AAdSS and € 1,035/QALY for patients with a high AAdSS. Of all the simulations performed in the probabilistic sensitivity analysis, 99 % indicated that the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of the 5-grass pollen tablet treatment was below the threshold of € 30,000/QALY in patients with medium and high AAdSS, whereas it was found to be dominated in 67 % of simulations related to patients with low AAdSS. Conclusion: The 5-grass pollen tablet is a cost-effective treatment for adult AR patients with a medium or high AAdSS. This finding should be carefully considered when deciding the management strategy for these patients. © 2013 The Author(s).

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Ruggeri, M., Oradei, M., Frati, F., Puccinelli, P., Romao, C., Dell’Albani, I., … Cicchetti, A. (2013). Economic evaluation of 5-grass pollen tablets versus placebo in the treatment of allergic rhinitis in adults. Clinical Drug Investigation, 33(5), 343–349. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40261-013-0067-z

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free