Cost-effectiveness of strong opioids focussing on the long-term effects of opioid-related fractures: a model approach

A Systematic Review of Economic Evaluation Studies of Drug-Based Non-Malignant Chronic Pain Treatment

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Chronic pain is a highly prevalent problem, involving high costs and seriously affecting a patient's quality of life. This review aimed to systematically review economic evaluations of pharmacological-based treatments for non-malignant chronic pain and to compare different treatment approaches with regard to their economic profile.

METHODS

PubMed and Scopus were systematically searched in April 2016. Studies were included if quality-adjusted life years and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios were reported. Quality assessment was carried out by using La Torre's weighted scale on the Drummond checklist. Costs were converted into US$2014.

RESULTS

Fourteen economic evaluations met the inclusion criteria. Three treatment categories identified were: opioids, anticonvulsants, and anti-depressants. Compared to anticonvulsants and antidepressant, opioids had lower ICER. Transdermal buprenorphine showed an ICER of about US$11,000.00 while pregabalin showed an ICER of US$19,200. Studies included showed a diversity of methodological approaches, such as different modeling approaches and different perspectives (NHS and private payer).

CONCLUSION

There are limitations to the success of making appropriate recommendations about which treatment is most cost-effective due to considerable variability between treatments, pain syndromes, and drug dosages. Opioids may have lower ICER, but the societal implications of the opioid epidemic and overdose deaths should be taken into account when coming to general conclusions about their cost-effectiveness. To ensure correct resource allocation as well as the best benefit for patients, uniform and standardized approaches of cost and outcome measurement in economic evaluations of chronic are needed.

The rising crisis of illicit fentanyl use, overdose, and potential therapeutic strategies

Fentanyl is a powerful opioid anesthetic and analgesic, the use of which has caused an increasing public health threat in the United States and elsewhere. Fentanyl was initially approved and used for the treatment of moderate to severe pain, especially cancer pain. However, recent years have seen a growing concern that fentanyl and its analogs are widely synthesized in laboratories and adulterated with illicit supplies of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and counterfeit pills, contributing to the exponential growth in the number of drug-related overdose deaths. This review summarizes the recent epidemic and evolution of illicit fentanyl use, its pharmacological mechanisms and side effects, and the potential clinical management and prevention of fentanyl-related overdoses. Because social, economic, and health problems that are related to the use of fentanyl and its analogs are growing, there is an urgent need to implement large-scale safe and effective harm reduction strategies to prevent fentanyl-related overdoses.

Economic evaluation in chronic pain: a systematic review and de novo flexible economic model

There is unmet need in patients suffering from chronic pain, yet innovation may be impeded by the difficulty of justifying economic value in a field beset by data limitations and methodological variability. A systematic review was conducted to identify and summarise the key areas of variability and limitations in modelling approaches in the economic evaluation of treatments for chronic pain. The results of the literature review were then used to support the development of a fully flexible open-source economic model structure, designed to test structural and data assumptions and act as a reference for future modelling practice. The key model design themes identified from the systematic review included: time horizon; titration and stabilisation; number of treatment lines; choice/ordering of treatment; and the impact of parameter uncertainty (given reliance on expert opinion). Exploratory analyses using the model to compare a hypothetical novel therapy versus morphine as first-line treatments showed cost-effectiveness results to be sensitive to structural and data assumptions. Assumptions about the treatment pathway and choice of time horizon were key model drivers. Our results suggest structural model design and data assumptions may have driven previous cost-effectiveness results and ultimately decisions based on economic value. We therefore conclude that it is vital that future economic models in chronic pain are designed to be fully transparent and hope our open-source code is useful in order to aspire to a common approach to modelling pain that includes robust sensitivity analyses to test structural and parameter uncertainty.

The cost of opioid-related adverse drug events

Opioids are the cornerstone of pain management; however, their use is associated with a variety of adverse drug events (ADEs) ranging from nausea and vomiting to urinary retention and respiratory depression. The purpose of this review is to describe the frequency and cost associated with different types of opioid-related ADEs to better understand their economic impact. A search of studies published in journals from 1946 to December, 2013, was conducted using MEDLINE and EMBASE. A total of 20 articles were reviewed. Data reflect a substantial economic burden of opioid-related ADEs resulting in high hospital costs, prolonged hospital stays, and substantial health care resource usage. Nausea, vomiting, and constipation are frequent and increased costs occur in all types of pain (surgical, nonsurgical, cancer, noncancer) in both inpatients and outpatients. Given the large economic burden of opioid-related ADEs, prevention rather than treatment may be the most effective strategy.

Vertebral fracture assessment (VFA) by lateral DXA scanning may be cost-effective when used as part of fracture liaison services or primary care screening

SUMMARY

We identified that use of VFA may be cost-effective in either selected women from primary care or women attending after a low trauma fracture.

INTRODUCTION

Lateral DXA scanning of the spine for vertebral fracture assessment (VFA) is used for research, but its wider role is unclear. We aimed to establish whether VFA is cost-effective in women based on two different scenarios: following a low-trauma fracture, and after screening of high-risk women identified in primary care.

METHODS

The fracture cohort (FC) consisted of 377 women and the primary care cohort (PCC) of 251. Vertebral fractures were identified on VFA images by quantitative morphometry (QM). Outcome was cost-effectiveness of VFA, based on predicted change in clinical management defined as the identification of a vertebral fracture in a patient who otherwise falls below the threshold for treatment. FRAX treatment thresholds assessed were (1) 20/3 % thresholds and (2) National Osteoporosis Guidelines Group (NOGG) thresholds.

RESULTS

As a result, 9.8 % from FC and 13.9 % from PCC were identified with vertebral fractures. Management was changed in 21 to 22/377 (5.6-5.8 %) in FC and 12 to 26/251 (4.8-10.4 %) from PCC depending on which thresholds were used. Sensitivity analyses identified medication adherence as the assumption which most influenced the model. The best-estimate cost-per-QALY for use of VFA in FC was £3,243 for 20/3 threshold and £2,130 for NOGG; for PCC, this was £7,831 for 20/3 and was cost-saving for NOGG. Further analyses to adjust for potential false-positive vertebral fracture identification with QM showed VFA was no longer cost-effective.

CONCLUSION

VFA appears to be cost-effective in routine clinical practise, particularly when relatively inaccurate methods of identification of vertebral fractures are used such as QM.

Direct and indirect costs of patients treated with extended-release oxymorphone HCl or controlled-release oxycodone HCl

OBJECTIVE

Compare direct and indirect costs of oxymorphone extended-release ('oxymorphone') and oxycodone controlled-release ('oxycodone') users.

METHODS

Patients, aged 18+, with ≥1 claim for oxymorphone/oxycodone, Q2:2006-Q4:2009, were selected from a de-identified private payer claims database and observed from the first such claim ('index date') until the earliest of: use of comparator drug; end of continuous eligibility; 12 months ('study period'). Patients with claims for any formulation of the comparator drug during the first 30 days of the study period were excluded. Direct (medical and drug) costs paid by private insurers were reported for patients aged 18-64 (n = 8354) and 65+(n = 3515), as well as sub-sets without cancer (n = 7090 and n = 2444, respectively). Indirect costs (medically-related absenteeism and disability) were reported for all employees, aged 18-64 (n = 1313), and employees without cancer (n = 1146). Multivariate models were used to estimate risk-adjusted costs controlling for patient characteristics.

RESULTS

Oxymorphone users, aged 18-64, had lower drug costs ($693 vs $763, p = 0.0035) and similar medical costs ($1875 vs $1976, p = 0.3570) per patient-month compared with oxycodone users (mean follow-up 236 and 280 days, respectively). Indirect costs were not different ($662 vs $670, p = 0.9370). Oxymorphone users, aged 65+, had similar Medicare supplemental drug costs ($533 vs $588, p = 0.0840) and lower medical costs ($459 vs $747, p < 0.0001). Results were comparable for subsets without cancer.

LIMITATIONS

Patients with concomitant use of oxymorphone and oxycodone were excluded.

CONCLUSIONS

Oxymorphone users incur lower risk-adjusted costs in several cost categories, compared with oxycodone users, and no higher costs in any of the examined categories.

Transdermal buprenorphine - a critical appraisal of its role in pain management

This paper reviews the current clinical data for the role of transdermal buprenorphine (BUP TDS) in the treatment of diverse acute and chronic pain syndromes. Literature searches were carried out using PubMed (1988 to June 2009). The published findings seem to support hypotheses regarding the rather unique analgesic mechanisms of buprenorphine as compared with pure μ-opioids like morphine and fentanyl. However, the exact mechanism of this analgesic efficacy still remains largely unknown despite recent advances in preclinical pharmacological studies. Such assessments have demonstrated the sustained antihyperalgesic effect of buprenorphine in diverse animal pain models. These findings are supported in a growing number of clinical studies of oral, intrathecal, intravenous, and Bup TDS. This review paper focuses almost entirely on the clinical experience concerning the transdermal administration of buprenorphine, although preclinical aspects are also addressed in order to provide a complete picture of the unique pharmacological properties of this analgesic drug. Mounting evidence indicates the appropriateness of Bup TDS in the treatment of diverse acute and chronic pain syndromes which have been less or not responsive to other opioids. Additionally, BUP TDS seems to hold great promise for other difficult-to-treat (pain) conditions, such as patients in the intensive care setting. However, its use is somewhat tempered by the occurrence of local skin reactions which have been shown to be often therapy resistant. Further studies are certainly warranted to identify even more precisely the clinical syndromes that are most sensitive to buprenorphine treatment, and to compare buprenorphine to other opioids in head-to-head trials of acute and chronic pain conditions.