Prevalence of and Factors Associated With the Prescription of Fibrates Among Patients Receiving Lipid-Lowering Drugs in Germany.

Little recent data are available about the patterns of prescription for fibrates in patients followed in primary care practices. Therefore, the goal of this study was to analyze the prevalence of and the factors associated with the use of fibrates among patients receiving lipid-lowering drugs in Germany. The study included patients aged ≥18 years with at least 1 visit to 1 of 1070 general practices in Germany between January and December 2019.

Cost-effectiveness of modern mTOR inhibitor based immunosuppression compared to the standard of care after renal transplantation in Germany.

Objectives: Standards of immunosuppression in renal transplantation have changed dynamically in recent years. We here provide a refined advanced pharmacoeconomic model which uses state-of-the-art methods including a mixed treatment comparison (MTC) analysis. The aim was to assess the cost-effectiveness of current immunosuppressive therapy regimens (TR): "sirolimus + early withdrawal of cyclosporine + steroids" (TR1), "sirolimus-early transition" (TR2), "everolimus-early transition" (TR3) and "tacrolimus low dose + mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) + steroids" (TR4).

Cost-effectiveness of ticagrelor and generic clopidogrel in patients with acute coronary syndrome in Switzerland.

Question Under Study: The aim of this study was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of ticagrelor and generic clopidogrel as add-on therapy to acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), from a Swiss perspective.

Methods: Based on the PLATelet inhibition and patient Outcomes (PLATO) trial, one-year mean healthcare costs per patient treated with ticagrelor or generic clopidogrel were analysed from a payer perspective in 2011. A two-part decision-analytic model estimated treatment costs, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), life years and the cost-effectiveness of ticagrelor and generic clopidogrel in patients with ACS up to a lifetime at a discount of 2.

Cost-effectiveness of posaconazole compared with standard azole therapy for prevention of invasive fungal infections in patients at high risk in Switzerland.

Objective: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of posaconazole versus standard azoles in the prevention of invasive fungal infection (IFI) in high-risk patients, using a pharmacoeconomic model that was adapted to a Swiss setting.

Methods: Decision tree models based on the results of two registration trials and subsequent Markov models over patient lifetimes were developed for patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) or myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) with neutropenia and for hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients with graft-versus-host disease (GVHD).

Results: By reducing IFIs in AML/MDS patients with posaconazole prophylaxis, the contained IFI-related treatment costs more than compensated for the incremental cost of posaconazole, resulting in savings of CHF 1,118 per patient.

Cost-effectiveness of biologics for moderate-to-severe psoriasis from the perspective of the Swiss healthcare system.

Treatment with biologics for moderate-to-severe psoriasis has been approved in Switzerland (2004). However, compulsory basic health insurance limits treatment in non-responders after 12 weeks; responders can continue. The study objective was to evaluate incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) due to this regulation.

Cost effectiveness and cost utility of risedronate for osteoporosis treatment and fracture prevention in women: a Swiss perspective.

Objectives: To assess the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) and incremental cost-utility ratio (ICUR) of risedronate compared to no intervention in postmenopausal osteoporotic women in a Swiss perspective.

Methods: A previously validated Markov model was populated with epidemiological and cost data specific to Switzerland and published utility values, and run on a population of 1,000 women of 70 years with established osteoporosis and previous vertebral fracture, treated over 5 years with risedronate 35 mg weekly or no intervention (base case), and five cohorts (according to age at therapy start) with eight risk factor distributions and three lengths of residual effects.

Results: In the base case population, the ICER of averting a hip fracture and the ICUR per quality-adjusted life year gained were both dominant.