TY - JOUR
T1 - The Economic Value of Improved Productivity from Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection
T2 - A Retrospective Analysis of Earnings, Work Loss, and Health Insurance Data
AU - Sulkowski, Mark
AU - Ionescu-Ittu, Raluca
AU - Macaulay, Dendy
AU - Sanchez-Gonzalez, Yuri
N1 - Funding Information:
Sponsorship for this study and Rapid Service Fee were funded by AbbVie. The study sponsor was involved in all stages of the study research and manuscript preparation. No honoraria or payments were made for authorship.
Funding Information:
Medical writing assistance in the preparation of this article was provided by Michaela Stamm and Mona Lisa Chanda, employees of Analysis Group, Inc. Support for this assistance was funded by AbbVie. The authors would like to thank Darren Thomason and Olivia Liu from Analysis Group for analytical support. Financial support for these services was provided by AbbVie.
Funding Information:
Dr. Mark Sulkowski is an employee of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and reports research grants from AbbVie, Gilead, Janssen, AssemblyBio, Proteus Digital Health and the National Institutes of Health and serves as a consultant for AbbVie, Gilead, Immunocore, Arbutus, Biomarin and AssemblyBio. Dr. Raluca Ionescu-Ittu reports working for Analysis Group, which received consulting fees from AbbVie, during the conduct of the study. Dr. Dendy Macaulay reports working for Analysis Group, which received consulting fees from AbbVie, during the conduct of the study. Dr. Yuri Sanchez Gonzalez is an employee of AbbVie Inc. and may own stocks and/or options of the company.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Author(s).
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/11/1
Y1 - 2020/11/1
N2 - Introduction: Patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection (HCV) may incur significant indirect costs due to health-related work loss. However, the impact of curative HCV therapy on work productivity is not well characterized. We estimated the economic value of improved productivity following HCV treatment. Methods: Adults diagnosed with HCV infection (Optum Healthcare Solutions data; Q1 1999 to Q1 2017) were stratified into two cohorts: (1) treated cohort, patients who received HCV therapy and (2) untreated cohort, therapy-naïve patients. For the treated cohort, the index date was set at the end of the post-treatment monitoring period, assumed to be 6 months after the end of treatment for patients with cirrhosis or for those treated with interferon-based therapy, and 3 months after the end of treatment for patients without cirrhosis who received interferon-free therapy. For the untreated cohort, an index date was randomly selected post-HCV diagnosis. Time from the index date to the first work-loss event was assessed using time to event analyses. An economic modeling approach was used to monetize the improved productivity from reduced risk of work-loss event in the 4 years post-index. Results: Patients in the treated cohort had a lower risk of experiencing a work-loss event compared to untreated patients [unadjusted and adjusted hazard ratios and 95% CI 0.72 (0.61–0.86), and 0.68 (0.55–0.85), respectively; p < 0.001 for both]. The mean cumulative added productivity value associated with HCV treatment was US$4511 (CI $2778–$6278) at 1 year post-index and $21,429 (CI $12,733–$30,199) at 4 years post-index. Conclusion: HCV treatment reduces the risk of work loss resulting in productivity gains for employers and employees. The monetary value associated with these productivity gains is substantial, and, after about 4 years, it is comparable to the wholesale acquisition cost of some direct-acting antiviral regimens in the United States. Employers may derive economic benefits from adopting HCV elimination strategies.
AB - Introduction: Patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection (HCV) may incur significant indirect costs due to health-related work loss. However, the impact of curative HCV therapy on work productivity is not well characterized. We estimated the economic value of improved productivity following HCV treatment. Methods: Adults diagnosed with HCV infection (Optum Healthcare Solutions data; Q1 1999 to Q1 2017) were stratified into two cohorts: (1) treated cohort, patients who received HCV therapy and (2) untreated cohort, therapy-naïve patients. For the treated cohort, the index date was set at the end of the post-treatment monitoring period, assumed to be 6 months after the end of treatment for patients with cirrhosis or for those treated with interferon-based therapy, and 3 months after the end of treatment for patients without cirrhosis who received interferon-free therapy. For the untreated cohort, an index date was randomly selected post-HCV diagnosis. Time from the index date to the first work-loss event was assessed using time to event analyses. An economic modeling approach was used to monetize the improved productivity from reduced risk of work-loss event in the 4 years post-index. Results: Patients in the treated cohort had a lower risk of experiencing a work-loss event compared to untreated patients [unadjusted and adjusted hazard ratios and 95% CI 0.72 (0.61–0.86), and 0.68 (0.55–0.85), respectively; p < 0.001 for both]. The mean cumulative added productivity value associated with HCV treatment was US$4511 (CI $2778–$6278) at 1 year post-index and $21,429 (CI $12,733–$30,199) at 4 years post-index. Conclusion: HCV treatment reduces the risk of work loss resulting in productivity gains for employers and employees. The monetary value associated with these productivity gains is substantial, and, after about 4 years, it is comparable to the wholesale acquisition cost of some direct-acting antiviral regimens in the United States. Employers may derive economic benefits from adopting HCV elimination strategies.
KW - Economic value
KW - Hepatitis C virus treatment
KW - Infectious diseases
KW - Work productivity
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U2 - 10.1007/s12325-020-01492-x
DO - 10.1007/s12325-020-01492-x
M3 - Article
C2 - 32929647
AN - SCOPUS:85091608321
VL - 37
SP - 4709
EP - 4719
JO - Advances in Therapy
JF - Advances in Therapy
SN - 0741-238X
IS - 11
ER -