A case study applying a novel approach to estimate the social impact of a medical innovation - the use of secukinumab for psoriatic arthritis in Germany

ABSTRACT

Objectives

Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is associated with serious productivity impairment. Secukinumab, a fully human IL-17A inhibitor, provides sustained relief from PsA symptoms. This study estimates the societal economic benefits of using secukinumab instead of conventional disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) for treating patients with active PsA in Germany from 2016 to 2030.

Methods

A Markov and a population model simulated the functional impairment of German PsA patients. The relationship between functional impairment and work productivity was used to determine the productivity difference in the populations treated with secukinumab and csDMARDs. The corresponding gains in productive time were allocated to paid and unpaid activities and valued according to gross value added (GVA). Since increased productivity has the potential to stimulate greater macroeconomic effects, indirect and induced GVA effects were calculated as well.

Results

The use of secukinumab reduces the productivity impairment in the target population on average by 13 percentage points. This difference could generate 32 million active and productive hours until the year 2030, which translates to GVA equivalents of €1.3 billion. Including indirect and induced effects yield an economic estimate of €2.7 billion GVA equivalent.

Conclusions

The improvements in PsA-related functional impairment could lead to sizable productivity effects within the economy.

KEYWORDS:

• Psoriatic arthritis
• work productivity loss
• societal costs
• economic burden
• secukinumab
• IL17-A

Authors contribution

Sebastian Himmler and Malina Mueller contributed equally to the study design, data analysis and interpretation, to the manuscript writing and to final manuscript review. Bintu Sherif conducted parts of the calculations and helped in revising the manuscript. Dennis Ostwald contributed to the study design and revising it critically for intellectual content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Declaration of interest

S Himmler and M Müller are employees of WifOR GmbH. D Ostwald is CEO and founder of WifOR GmbH. B Sherif is an employee of RTI Health Solutions, which was contracted by Novartis for the purpose of this study. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Reviewer disclosures

A reviewer on this manuscript has disclosed that they are an employee of Mount Sinai and received research funds from: Abbvie, Boehringer Ingelheim, Celgene, Eli Lilly, Incyte, Janssen/Johnson & Johnson, Leo Pharmaceuticals, Medimmune/Astra Zeneca, Novartis, Pfizer, Sciderm, Valeant and ViDac. They are also a consultant for Allergan, Aqua, Boehringer-Ingelheim, LEO Pharma, Menlo, Mitsubishi, Promius and Theravance. Another reviewer on this manuscript has disclosed that they have received research, speaking and/or consulting support from a variety of companies including Galderma, GSK/Stiefel, Almirall, Alvotech, Leo Pharma, BMS, Boehringer Ingelheim, Mylan, Celgene, Pfizer, Ortho Dermatology, Abbvie, Samsung, Janssen, Lilly, Menlo, Merck, Novartis, Regeneron, Sanofi, Novan, Qurient, National Biological Corporation, Caremark, Advance Medical, Sun Pharma, Suncare Research, Informa, UpToDate and National Psoriasis Foundation. They also consult for others through Guidepoint Global, Gerson Lehrman and other consulting organizations. They are a founder and majority owner of www.DrScore.com. and a founder and part owner of Causa Research, a company dedicated to enhancing patients’ adherence to treatment.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Novartis Pharma GmbH.