Pharmacoeconomic aspects of combined treatment of advanced stage of Parkinson's disease

Abstract

To assess the cost-efficiency of the fixed levodopa/carbidopa/entacapone combination and the free combination of levodopa/carbidopa with rasagiline. An analysis was performed using the Markov model including three clinical states: duration of off-time ≤25%, duration of off-time >25% and fatal outcome. Costs of the drugs were calculated based on the results of auctions for 2016 by IMS Health data. In basic variant (drugs containing levodopa, 5-times a day), costs of treatment with the fixed levodopa/carbidopa/entacapone combination were 2.45 times higher than with rasagiline + levodopa/carbidopa. When taking levodopa drugs 3 times a day, costs of treatment with levodopa/carbidopa/entacapone were 1.53 times higher. Costs of treatment with rasagiline in combination with levodopa/carbidopa were lower by 10.4% even in the least beneficial variant of sensitivity analysis (maximal cost of rasagiline, maximal cost of levodopa/carbidopa and minimal cost of the fixed levodopa/carbidopa/entacapone combination). In basic variant, the cost-efficiency of treatment with rasagiline in combination with levodopa/carbidopa at the advanced stage of Parkinson's disease was 281.4 thousand roubles/QALY. Rasagiline in combination with levodopa/carbidopa is clinically and economically expedient for treatment of patients at the advanced stage of Parkinson's disease because of the reduction of costs compared to the fixed levodopa/carbidopa/entacapone combination.