1. Economic Evaluation of Voriconazole versus Conventional Amphotericin B in the Treatment of Invasive Aspergillosis in Germany.
- Author
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Jansen, Jeroen P., Kern, Winfried V., Cornely, Oliver A., Karthaus, Meinolf, Ruhnke, Markus, Ullmann, Andrew J., and Resch, Ansgar
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AMPHOTERICIN B , *ASPERGILLOSIS , *THERAPEUTICS , *COST effectiveness , *COST analysis , *MARKOV processes , *MEDICAL care costs , *HEALTH , *RESEARCH - Abstract
Objective: To assess the costs and cost-effectiveness of voriconazole in comparison to conventional amphotericin B (CAB) for the treatment of invasive aspergillosis in Germany. Methods: The cost-effectiveness of voriconazole in comparison to CAB was evaluated with a lifetime Markov model, focusing on the long-term survival of patients treated for invasive aspergillosis. Long-term survival was extrapolated from survival after 12 weeks of treatment, obtained from a randomized aspergillosis study. Information on medical resource consumption and treatment pathways were obtained from this study and an expert committee. With probabilistic analysis the cost-effectiveness of voriconazole compared with amphotericin B was analyzed and expressed in incremental costs per life-weeks gained. The evaluation was performed from a limited societal perspective (both inpatient and outpatient costs) and hospital perspective (only inpatient costs). Results: Average survival of patients treated with voriconazole was 174.4 life-weeks (95% confidence interval [CI] 159.4–191.3), compared with 119.4 life-weeks (95% CI 106.4–132.3) for amphotericin B. With voriconazole, the mean total costs per patient were &U20AC;30,026 (95% CI &U20AC;23,118–37,947) compared with &U20AC;26,669 for amphotericin B (95% CI &U20AC;21,259–34,263) from the limited societal perspective. The corresponding incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was &U20AC;62 per life-week gained (i.e., &U20AC;3224 per life-year gained). Hospital costs were approximately 90% of the mean total costs. Conclusions: In the treatment of invasive aspergillosis, voriconazole is cost-effective in comparison to amphotericin B. Hospital costs are comparable for both treatments and are expected to be reimbursed based on the German diagnosis-related groups (DRG) system 2005. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2006
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