Healthcare Costs and Resource Utilization in Patients with Infantile Spasms Treated with H.P. Acthar Gel(®)

Acthar Gel (RCI): A Narrative Literature Review of Clinical and Economic Evidence

Acthar^® Gel (repository corticotropin injection [RCI]) is a naturally sourced complex mixture of adrenocorticotropic hormone analogs and other pituitary peptides used to treat patients with serious and rare inflammatory and autoimmune conditions. This narrative review summarizes the key clinical and economic findings among 9 indications: infantile spasms (IS), multiple sclerosis (MS) relapses, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), dermatomyositis and polymyositis (DM/PM), ocular inflammatory diseases (primarily uveitis and severe keratitis), symptomatic sarcoidosis, and proteinuria in nephrotic syndrome (NS). Key studies of clinical efficacy and healthcare resource utilization and cost from 1956 to 2022 are discussed. Evidence supports the efficacy of RCI across all 9 indications. RCI is recommended as first-line treatment for IS and is associated with improved outcomes for the other 8 indications, including increased recovery rates in MS relapse; improved disease control in RA, SLE, and DM/PM; real-world effectiveness in patients with uveitis and severe keratitis; improved lung function and reduced corticosteroid use in symptomatic sarcoidosis; and increased rates of partial remission of proteinuria in NS. For many indications, RCI may improve clinical outcomes during exacerbations or when conventional treatments have failed to show a benefit. RCI is also associated with a reduction in the use of biologics, corticosteroids, and disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs. Economic data suggest RCI is a cost-effective, value-based treatment option for MS relapse, RA, and SLE. Other economic benefits have been demonstrated for IS, MS relapses, RA, SLE, and DM/PM, including reduced hospitalizations, lengths of stay, inpatient and outpatient services, and emergency department visits. RCI is considered safe and effective and features economic benefits for numerous indications. Its ability to control relapse and disease activity makes RCI an important nonsteroid treatment option that could help preserve functioning and well-being among patients with inflammatory and autoimmune conditions.

EEG biomarkers for the diagnosis and treatment of infantile spasms

Early diagnosis and treatment are critical for young children with infantile spasms (IS), as this maximizes the possibility of the best possible child-specific outcome. However, there are major barriers to achieving this, including high rates of misdiagnosis or failure to recognize the seizures, medication failure, and relapse. There are currently no validated tools to aid clinicians in assessing objective diagnostic criteria, predicting or measuring medication response, or predicting the likelihood of relapse. However, the pivotal role of EEG in the clinical management of IS has prompted many recent studies of potential EEG biomarkers of the disease. These include both visual EEG biomarkers based on human visual interpretation of the EEG and computational EEG biomarkers in which computers calculate quantitative features of the EEG. Here, we review the literature on both types of biomarkers, organized based on the application (diagnosis, treatment response, prediction, etc.). Visual biomarkers include the assessment of hypsarrhythmia, epileptiform discharges, fast oscillations, and the Burden of AmplitudeS and Epileptiform Discharges (BASED) score. Computational markers include EEG amplitude and power spectrum, entropy, functional connectivity, high frequency oscillations (HFOs), long-range temporal correlations, and phase-amplitude coupling. We also introduce each of the computational measures and provide representative examples. Finally, we highlight remaining gaps in the literature, describe practical guidelines for future biomarker discovery and validation studies, and discuss remaining roadblocks to clinical implementation, with the goal of facilitating future work in this critical area.

Medication Utilization Patterns 90 Days Before Initiation of Treatment with Repository Corticotropin Injection in Patients with Infantile Spasms

Introduction

Infantile spasms (IS) is a rare and devastating form of early childhood epilepsy. Two drugs are approved in the United States for treatment of IS, H.P. Acthar^® Gel (repository corticotropin injection, RCI) and Sabril^® (vigabatrin). Given real-world variation in treatment of patients with IS, this study characterized treatment patterns with IS medications and determined all-cause health care resource utilization (HCRU) during the 90 days before initiating therapy with RCI in patients with IS.

Materials and methods

Truven Health MarketScan^® Research Databases were used to identify commercially insured US patients <2 years of age at RCI initiation with an IS diagnosis, per label use, from 1/1/07 to 12/31/15; presence of an electroencephalogram following diagnosis was required to assure diagnosis. Diagnosis codes and dispensed IS treatments of interest (drug classes including corticosteroids, vigabatrin, and other antiepileptic drugs [AEDs] excluding vigabatrin) before RCI initiation were evaluated.

Results

The 5 most common diagnoses other than IS observed in the study cohort (n=422) were "other convulsions," "acute upper respiratory infection," "esophageal reflux," "epilepsy, unspecified," and "abnormal involuntary muscle movements." Among the study cohort, 51.7% received RCI first; 38.9% received 1 drug class and 9.5% received >1 drug class before RCI initiation. Other AEDs were dispensed most often, either alone (31.3%) or with other drug classes (9.3%). Mean HCRU included 11.8 all-cause outpatient visits and 4.5 medications dispensed. Patients who received RCI or corticosteroids as their initial IS treatment had the lowest and second-lowest HCRU.

Conclusion

In the 90 days before initiating RCI, patients with IS received multiple diagnoses and treatments, characterized by frequent HCRU. Use of RCI first (no prior IS medications) and AEDs first were associated with the lowest and highest HCRU, respectively, across all categories (all-cause outpatient visits, emergency department visits, hospital admissions, prescription medications).

Validating an Algorithm to Identify Patients With Infantile Spasms Using Medical Claims

An infantile spasm is a brief seizure type that is characteristic of West syndrome. Many infants present with infantile spasms between 3-12 months of age. Early diagnosis and proper treatment of patients with infantile spasms can lead to improved clinical outcomes. However, proper identification of these patients using claims data with validation has not been performed. The authors developed and tested several algorithms using claims data. Claims data consisted of using International Classification of Disease (ICD), Current Procedural Terminology (CPT), and prescription codes. Access to the claims database was from an accountable care organization. The algorithm using the specific ICD code for infantile spasms only performed the best with high sensitivity and specificity. This algorithm can be used to perform additional research in claims data for patients with infantile spasms.

Clinical and Economic Evaluation of Repository Corticotropin Injection: A Narrative Literature Review of Treatment Efficacy and Healthcare Resource Utilization for Seven Key Indications

INTRODUCTION

Repository corticotropin injection (RCI; H.P. Acthar® Gel; Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals Inc., Hampton, NJ) is a highly purified, prolonged-release porcine preparation of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) analogue that is FDA-approved for treatment of 19 autoimmune and inflammatory disorders. The diverse physiological actions of RCI at the melanocortin receptors (MCRs) affect processes involved in inflammation, pigmentation, steroidogenesis, and immunomodulation. Although RCI has been approved to treat inflammatory and autoimmune diseases for more than 60 years, recent progress in understanding both MCRs and the effects of RCI in modulating immune responses has led to increased interest in RCI as a therapeutic choice. The objective of this narrative literature review is to summarize key clinical and economic data on RCI treatment of seven disorders: infantile spasms (IS), multiple sclerosis (MS) relapses, proteinuria in nephrotic syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), dermatomyositis/polymyositis (DM/PM), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and symptomatic sarcoidosis based on published literature and product information. An extended report is available as the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) Formulary dossier for H.P. Acthar® Gel.

METHODS

Key studies of clinical efficacy and healthcare utilization and cost from 1956 to 2016 are summarized.

RESULTS

The evidence supports the efficacy of RCI across the seven indications. RCI is effective as a first-line therapy for IS. For the other six conditions, RCI may improve clinical outcomes during exacerbations or when the condition is resistant to conventional treatments. Use of RCI is associated with reduced use of biologics, corticosteroids, and disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs. Initiation of RCI therapy in patients with IS, MS, RA, SLE, or DM/PM has been associated with lower post-therapy healthcare utilization and medical costs, including decreases in hospitalizations, hospital length of stay, outpatient visits, and emergency department visits.

CONCLUSION

The evidence suggests that RCI may improve inflammatory and autoimmune disease control and patient quality of life, particularly in complex patients, and yield healthcare cost savings that demonstrate the medicine's value.

FUNDING

Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals Inc.