Publications by authors named "R Falchetto"

Article Synopsis
  • - NICE uses quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of treatments, combining clinical benefits with the duration of patient benefits.
  • - A study on NICE's evaluations for rare diseases found that the median time horizon for QALY calculations was 97.5 years, often exceeding expected treatment durations or life expectancies.
  • - The only treatment with a negative funding decision had a shorter time horizon than the expected treatment duration, raising concerns about the fairness and consistency of NICE's evaluation process.
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Article Synopsis
  • Erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP) is a rare metabolic disorder that causes severe pain from light exposure, making it hard to gauge patients' quality of life (QoL).
  • A feasibility study involved five EPP patients on long-term treatment with afamelanotide, assessing QoL using the EQ-5D tool, especially after they experienced treatment interruptions.
  • Findings showed that patients' QoL while treated was similar to the general population, and their experiences during treatment interruptions compared to patients with chronic pain and burn injuries, supporting afamelanotide's cost-effectiveness evaluation in England.
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Acute hepatic porphyria (AHP) is a group of rare genetic diseases of heme biosynthesis resulting in severe neurovisceral attacks and chronic complications that negatively impact patients' well-being. This study evaluated the impacts of AHP on patients' physical and emotional health from a global perspective. Adult patients from the United States, Italy, Spain, Australia, Mexico, and Brazil with AHP with >1 porphyria attack within the past 2 years or receiving intravenous hemin and/or glucose for attack prevention completed an online survey assessing demographics, health characteristics, and patient-reported outcomes.

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A promising approach for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is the inhibition of enhanced hepatic lipogenesis (DNL), which is the synthesis of fatty acids from nonlipid sources. This study assesses three approaches to DNL suppression in a newly developed dietary NASH mouse model: i) dietary intervention (switch from NASH-inducing diet to normal diet); ii) inhibition of acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase (ACC), the enzyme catalyzing the rate-limiting step in DNL; and iii) activation of farnesoid X receptor (FXR), a major transcriptional regulator of DNL. C57BL/6J mice on a high-fat diet combined with consumption of a fructose-sucrose solution developed several of the liver histologic features seen in human disease, including steatosis, inflammation, and fibrosis, accompanied by elevated fibrosis biomarkers and liver injury enzymes.

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