Cost–effectiveness of sotagliflozin for the treatment of patients with diabetes and recent worsening heart failure

That is the title of my article with Jaehong Kim, Shanshan Wang and Slaven Sikirica in the Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research. The abstract is below.

Aim: To assesses the cost–effectiveness of sotagliflozin for the treatment of patients hospitalized with heart failure and comorbid diabetes. 

Materials & methods: A de novo cost–effectiveness model with a Markov structure was created for patients hospitalized for heart failure with comorbid diabetes. Outcomes of interest included hospital readmissions, emergency department visits and all-cause mortality measured over a 30-year time horizon. Baseline event frequencies were derived from published real-world data studies; sotagliflozin’s efficacy was estimated from SOLOIST-WHF. Health benefits were calculated quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). Costs included pharmaceutical costs, rehospitalization, emergency room visits and adverse events. Economic value was measured using the incremental cost–effectiveness ratio (ICER). 

Results: Sotagliflozin use decreased annualized rehospitalization rates by 34.5% (0.228 vs 0.348, difference: -0.120), annualized emergency department visits by 40.0% (0.091 vs 0.153, difference: -0.061) and annualized mortality by 18.0% (0.298 vs 0.363, difference: -0.065) relative to standard of care, resulting in a net gain in QAYs of 0.425 for sotagliflozin versus standard of care. Incremental costs using sotagliflozin increased by $19,374 over a 30-year time horizon of the patient, driven largely by increased pharmaceutical cost. Estimated ICER for sotagliflozin relative to standard of care was $45,596 per QALY. 

Conclusion: Sotagliflozin is a cost-effective addition to standard of care for patients hospitalized with heart failure and comorbid diabetes.

You can read the full article here.