OBJECTIVE - To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of first-line treatment of Overactive Bladder (OAB) with fesoterodine relative to mirabegron, from the Spanish National Health System (NHS) perspective.
METHODS - A decision tree model was developed to represent a typical clinical process of 52-week of treatment for an OAB patient with urge urinary incontinence (UUI) initiating first-line therapy with fesoterodine 4mg, including optional titration to 8mg, vs.
mirabegron 50mg. Efficacy data were obtained from a Bayesian indirect treatment meta-analysis. Patients with UUI of less than one episode/day were defined as treatment responder and persistence was assessed at weeks 4, 12 and 24. At week 12, non-responders discontinued treatment permanently. Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) were calculated based on time spent in responder and non-responder states. OAB-related drug and medical care costs including physician visits, laboratory tests, incontinence pads, and comorbidities (fracture, skin infection, urinary tract infections and depression) were modeled and expressed in €2015.
RESULTS - At week 52, the percentage of responders was 20.8% for patients starting on fesoterodine 4mg who optionally titrated to 8mg and 19.4% for patients treated with mirabegron. QALYs were slightly higher with fesoterodine than mirabegron (0.7703vs. 0.7668, difference=0.0035). Fesoterodine treatment also had slightly higher total costs than mirabegron (3,296€vs. 3,217, difference=79€), resulting in a cost of 22,523/QALY€ gained for fesoterodine versus mirabegron. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis confirmed the slight advantage of fesoterodine with a 61.1% probability of being cost-effective at the 30,000€ willingness-to-pay for 1QALY threshold.
CONCLUSIONS - Given the relatively small 1-year cost difference between the two treatments, fesoterodine can be considered a cost-effective option relative to mirabegron for the first-line management of OAB with UUI in Spain.
Actas urologicas espanolas. 2016 Mar 14 [Epub ahead of print]
J C Angulo, F Sánchez-Ballester, C Peral, J Rejas, J Ramos, S J Snedecor, L Sudharshan, S Liu, X Luo
Departamento Clínico, Universidad Europea de Madrid, Servicio de Urología, Hospital Universitario de Getafe, Getafe, Madrid, España. Electronic address: ., Servicio de Urología, Hospital General Universitario de Valencia, Valencia, España., Health Economics and Outcomes Research. Pfizer SLU , Alcobendas, Madrid, España., Health Economics and Outcomes Research. Pfizer SLU , Alcobendas, Madrid, España., Health Economics and Outcomes Research. Pfizer SLU , Alcobendas, Madrid, España., Pharmerit, Bethesda, Maryland, Estados Unidos., Pharmerit, Bethesda, Maryland, Estados Unidos., Pharmerit, Bethesda, Maryland, Estados Unidos., Outcomes and Evidence, Pfizer Inc, Groton, Connecticut, Estados Unidos.