Cost‑effectiveness of add‑on dapagliflozin for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction patients without diabetes

Abstract

Aim

To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of dapagliflozin added to standard of care (SoC) versus SoC in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and without type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients from the Qatari healthcare perspective.

Materials and Methods

A lifetime Markov model was developed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of adding dapagliflozin to SoC based on the findings of Petrie et al. 2020, which were based on the DAPA-HF trial. The model was constructed based on four health states: “alive with no event”, “urgent visit for heart failure”, “hospitalization for heart failure”, and “dead”. The model considered 1,000 hypothetical HFrEF and without T2DM patients using 3-month cycles over a lifetime horizon. The outcome of interest was the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) per quality-adjusted life-year gained (QALY) and years of life lived (YLL). Utility and cost data were obtained from published sources. A scenario analysis was performed to replace the transition probabilities of events in people without T2DM with the transition probabilities of events irrespective of T2DM status, based on findings of the DAPA-HF trial. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to confirm the robustness of the conclusion.

Results

Adding dapagliflozin to SoC was estimated to dominate SoC alone, resulting in 0.6 QALY and 0.8 YLL, at a cost saving of QAR771 (USD211) per person compared with SoC alone, with total healthcare costs of QAR42,413 (USD 11,620) versus 43,184 (USD11,831) per person, respectively. When replacing the transition probabilities of events in people without T2DM with the transition probabilities of events in people irrespective of T2DM status, dapagliflozin was cost-effective at ICER of QAR5,212 (USD1,428) per QALY gained and QAR3,880 (USD1,063) per YLL. In the probabilistic sensitivity analysis, dapagliflozin combined with SoC was cost saving in over 49% of the cases and cost-effective in over 43% of the simulated cases against QALYs gained and YLL.

Limitations

Data from clinical trials were used instead of local data, which may limit the local relevance. However, evidence from the local Qatari population is lacking. Also, indirect costs were not included due to a paucity of available data.

Conclusions

Adding dapagliflozin to SoC is likely to be a cost-saving therapy for patients with HFrEF and without T2DM in Qatar.

PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY

Heart failure with reduced ejection fraction is a type of heart failure characterized by left ventricular ejection fraction of 40% or less. Dapagliflozin is a novel therapy for this condition, which was initially designed to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus. It is unclear whether dapagliflozin is a cost-effective option for patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction and without type 2 diabetes. A lifetime Markov model was developed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of adding dapagliflozin to standard of care from the Qatari healthcare perspective. Model results suggest that adding dapagliflozin to standard of care dominated standard of care alone, resulting in a gain of 0.8 years of life lived, a gain of 0.6 quality-adjusted life-years, and a cost saving of 211 United States dollars per person.

Keywords:

• Dapagliflozin
• heart failure
• cost-effectiveness
• cost saving
• non-diabetes

JEL Classification Codes:

• A19
• A1
• A
• B19
• B1
• B

Transparency

Declaration of funding

No funding was received for undertaking this study. Open Access funding was provided by the Qatar National Library, Qatar.

Declaration of financial/other relationships

Authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Author contributions

DA conceived the study, developed the model, performed the analyses, and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. DB contributed to model development, analyses, interpretation of data, and revised the manuscript. SC, RK, MA, PA, WE, JS, RN contributed to the interpretation of data, and revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Reviewer comments

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.