Abstract
Recent evidence demonstrated that weekly prophylaxis with subcutaneous bispecific
antibody (emicizumab) has shown higher efficacy in adolescent and adults patients
affected by haemophilia A (HA) with inhibitor, compared with patients treated on demand
or on prophylaxis with bypassing agents (BPAs). However, no economic evaluations assessing
the value and sustainability of emicizumab prophylaxis have been performed in Europe.
This study assessed the cost-effectiveness of emicizumab prophylaxis compared with
BPA prophylaxis and its possible budget impact from the Italian National Health Service
(NHS) perspective. A Markov model and a budget impact model were developed to estimate
the cost-effectiveness and budget impact of emicizumab prophylaxis in HA patients
with inhibitors. The model was populated using treatment efficacy from clinical trials
and key clinical, cost and epidemiological data retrieved through an extensive literature
review. Compared with BPAs prophylaxis, emicizumab prophylaxis was found to be more
effective (0.94 quality adjusted life-years) and cost saving (–€19.4/–€24.4 million
per patient lifetime) in a cohort of 4-year-old patients with HA and inhibitors who
failed immune tolerance induction. In the probabilistic sensitivity analysis, emicizumab
prophylaxis had always 100% probability of being cost-effective at any threshold.
Further, the use of emicizumab prophylaxis was associated to an overall budget reduction
of €45.4 million in the next 3 years. In conclusion, the clinically effective emicizumab
prophylaxis can be considered a cost-saving treatment for HA with inhibitor patients.
Furthermore, emicizumab treatment is also associated to a significant reduction of
the health care budget, making this new treatment a sustainable and convenient health
care option for Italian NHS.
Keywords
haemophilia A - inhibitors - prophylaxis - cost-effectiveness - budget impact