A cost-effectiveness analysis of nintedanib in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in the UK

BACKGROUND: International guidelines recommend nintedanib (OFEV(®)) as an option for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to assess the cost effectiveness of nintedanib versus pirfenidone, N-acetylcysteine and best supportive care (BSC) for the treatment of IPF from a UK payer's perspective. METHODS: A Markov model was designed to capture the changes in the condition of adults with IPF. Efficacy outcomes included mortality, lung function decline and acute exacerbations. Treatment safety (serious adverse events) and tolerability (overall discontinuation) were also considered. The baseline risk of these events was derived from patient-level data from the placebo arms of nintedanib clinical trials (TOMORROW, INPULSIS-1, INPULSIS-2). A network meta-analysis (NMA) was conducted to estimate the relative effectiveness of the comparator treatments. Quality of life and healthcare resource use data from the clinical trials were also incorporated in the economic model. RESULTS: Nintedanib showed statistically significant differences against placebo on acute exacerbation events avoided and lung function decline. In the cost-effectiveness analysis, the results were split between two treatments with relative low costs and modest effectiveness (BSC and N-acetylcysteine) and two that showed improved effectiveness (lung function) and higher costs (nintedanib and pirfenidone). All comparators were assumed to have similar projected survival and the difference in quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) was driven by the acute exacerbations and lung function estimates. In the base-case deterministic pairwise comparison with pirfenidone, nintedanib was found to have fewer acute exacerbations and resulted in less costs and more QALYs gained. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with BSC (placebo), nintedanib and pirfenidone were the only treatments to show statistical significance in the efficacy parameters. We found substantial uncertainty in the overall cost-effectiveness results between nintedanib and pirfenidone. N-Acetylcysteine was largely similar to BSC but with a worse survival profile. INPULSIS-1 and INPULSIS-2 ClinicalTrials.gov numbers, NCT01335464 and NCT01335477

Influence of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis progression on healthcare resource use

BACKGROUND: Disease progression and acute exacerbations in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) are associated with high morbidity and mortality. They usually require a visit to a specialist or a general practitioner (GP) in less severe cases or hospitalisation in more severe cases. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to identify factors that influence resource use in IPF. METHODS: Clinical and healthcare resource use data were collected in two large, international, multi-centre, randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that studied nintedanib for the treatment of IPF (INPULSIS-1 and -2). The pooled data of nintedanib and placebo included 1014 patients followed for 12 months. The trial data were analysed in 3-month intervals. We studied two dependent variables: the occurrence of all-cause hospitalisation and visits to a physician (GP or specialist). The independent variables included the change in forced vital capacity percent predicted (FVC%pred), investigator-reported acute exacerbation events, age, time since diagnosis, smoking status, and sex. RESULTS: Hospitalisation during a 3-month interval was significantly associated with a drop of at least 5 or 10 points in FVC%pred (odds ratios [ORs] 1.58 [p = 0.009] and 2.62 [p < 0.001]) and associated with the occurrence of at least one acute exacerbation (OR 14.44; p < 0.001) during the same interval. The above factors remained significant when repeating the analysis for hospitalisation based on change in FVC%pred or events occurring during the previous 3 months interval. Smoker status and a unit change in FVC%pred during the previous interval were added to the significant factors. Physician visits during a 3-month interval were significantly associated with a lower FVC%pred at the start of the interval (per 10-point decrement, OR 1.05; p = 0.040) and with the change in FVC%pred during the same interval (per 10-point loss, OR 1.13; p = 0.042). Visits were also associated with a 5-point drop in FVC%pred (OR 1.23; p = 0.020), age (per 5-year increments OR 1.07; p = 0.028), and female sex (OR 1.32; p = 0.017). Nevertheless, the predictive power of the models was considered poor for both outcomes (hospitalisation and physician visits). CONCLUSIONS: Disease progression and acute exacerbation events are significantly associated with hospitalisation of patients with IPF. Outpatient visits to physicians are associated with disease progression, baseline FVC%pred, age and sex