Burden of diabetes mellitus in patients with acromegaly treated with second-line pharmacotherapy in Spain

Abstract

Objective

To evaluate the burden of diabetes mellitus (DM) in adult patients with acromegaly treated with second-line pharmacotherapy, from the perspective of the Spanish National Health System (NHS).

Methods

A Markov model was developed including three states: normal glucose metabolism, DM and death. The evolution of a hypothetical cohort of acromegaly patients requiring second-line pharmacological treatment (pegvisomant or pasireotide) after first generation somatostatin analogues therapy was analyzed. Direct healthcare costs regarding acromegaly management, diabetes management and drugs costs were obtained from Spanish sources. Transition probabilities between health states were obtained from published studies. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were undertaken.

Results

Compared to pasireotide, pegvisomant increased the likelihood of glucose normalization and reduced the likelihood of DM. Consequently, in a cohort of 1,000 patients with acromegaly, treatment with pegvisomant compared to pasireotide would prevent 243, 413 and 453 cases of DM after 1, 2 and 5 years, respectively, and would reduce mortality by 0.1% after 5 years of treatment. This would result in 1 million euros savings for the NHS in 5 years. These health benefits would be obtained with savings of €1,512, €3,422 and €10,162 per patient treated with pegvisomant, after 1, 2 and 5 years, respectively. After 5 years of treatment, the probability that pegvisomant generated savings versus pasireotide would be 65.3%.

Conclusion

The favorable effects of pegvisomant on glucose metabolism would allow a considerable number of cases of DM to be avoided compared to pasireotide, resulting in savings for the NHS in Spain.

Keywords:

• diabetes mellitus
• acromegaly
• burden of illness
• pegvisomant
• pasireotide

Acknowledgments

The abstract of this paper was presented at the ISPOR 20th Annual European Congress, 2018, Glasgow, as a poster presentation with interim findings. The poster’s abstract was published in Value in Health. 2017;20: A553 (https://www.valueinhealthjournal.com/article/S1098-3015(17)31210-X/pdf).

Authors contributions

C Rubio-Terrés and D Rubio-Rodríguez developed the economic model. C Peral, L Sánchez-Cenizo, N Mir, J Aller and JM Martínez-Sesmero, reviewed in depth the economic model. C Rubio-Terrés, D Rubio-Rodríguez, C Peral and L Sanchez-Cenizo wrote the first and subsequent versions of the manuscript. All authors contributed to the fruitful discussion of the results and to the review of the different versions of the manuscript. All authors read, edited and approved the final manuscript. C Rubio-Terrés is the guarantor for the overall content of the paper.

Disclosure

This analysis was sponsored by Pfizer (Spain). C Rubio-Terrés and D Rubio-Rodríguez are employees of Health Value, who received an honorarium from Pfizer (Spain) in connection with the development of this manuscript. Medical writing support was provided by C Rubio-Terrés and D Rubio-Rodríguez at Health Value and was funded by Pfizer (Spain). C Peral, L Sanchez-Cenizo and N Mir, are employees of Pfizer (Spain). J Aller has received speaker honoraria from Pfizer (Spain) and Novartis. The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work.