The economic value of anti-IgE in severe persistent, IgE-mediated (allergic) asthma patients:: adaptation of INNOVATE to Sweden

Background: Severe allergic asthma patients may not be controlled even with guideline recommended care, including inhaled corticosteroids, long-acting beta-2 agonists, theophylline, oral steroids and anti-leukotrienes. They experience exacerbations requiring intensive healthcare use and which may be fatal. Omalizumab, a new monoclonal antibody for use in IgE-mediated allergic diseases, reduces exacerbations and daily symptoms in this patient population. The aim of this study is to estimate the cost effectiveness of adding omalizumab to optimized standard therapy (ST) in patients with severe persistent IgE-mediated (allergic) asthma. Methods:A Markov model comparing lifelong ST with a treatment period of omalizumab add-on therapy followed by ST, was developed based on efficacy data from the INNOVATE trial (28 weeks, N = 419) and Swedish life table and cost data. This model assumes that patients are at risk of having an exacerbation every 2 weeks and are at risk of dying from a clinically significant severe asthma exacerbation. Patients in a steady-state of having no exacerbations are defined to be in an 'optimized asthma control' state. Resource use data and utilities were obtained from INNOVATE and from a UK observational study. Costs from a societal perspective include estimates for drugs, routine care, exacerbations and costs in added years of life; benefits are expressed in QALYs. The response to omalizumab was evaluated after 16 weeks of trial, and non-responders stopped taking omalizumab for the remaining time. Results: Total lifetime discounted costs and QALYs on ST were 52702 euro and 11.60. Omalizumab add-on therapy cost an additional 42754 euro for 0.76 additional OALYs, resulting in an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of 56091 euro. A probabilistic sensitivity analysis indicates that the 95% CI around the ICER is [31328 euro; 20552 euro]. One-way analyses indicate that the results are sensitive to the exacerbation-related mortality rate, the time horizon and the discount rates. Conclusions: Based on the model and the assumptions used, our results suggest that omalizumab provides cost offsets, improves quality of life and may have an attractive ICER in treating the severe allergic asthma population.