Cost-effectiveness of pharmacogenetic-guided dosing of phenprocoumon in atrial fibrillation.

Aim: To investigate the cost-effectiveness of pharmacogenetic-guided phenprocoumon dosing versus standard anticoagulation care in Dutch patients with atrial fibrillation.

Materials & Methods: Using a decision-analytic Markov model, cost-effectiveness of pharmacogenetic-guided therapy versus standard care was estimated.

Results: Compared with standard care, the pharmacogenetic-guided dosing strategy increased quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) only very slightly and increased costs by €15. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was €2658 per QALY gained. In sensitivity analyses, the cost of genotyping had the largest influence on the cost-effectiveness ratio. In a probabilistic sensitivity analysis, the incremental costs of genotype-guided dosing were less than €20,000 per QALY gained in 75.6% of the simulations.

Conclusion: Pharmacogenetic-guided dosing of phenprocoumon has the potential to increase health slightly and may be able to achieve this in a cost-effective way. Owing to the many uncertainties it is too early to conclude whether or not patients starting phenprocoumon should be genotyped.