Psoriasis patients who switched from etanercept (ETA) to ustekinumab (UST) incurred higher health care resource utilization and health care costs over 12 months compared to patients who switched from ETA to adalimumab (ADA), according to a study presented at the 74th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology in Washington, DC (March 4–8, 2016).
In the poster, Wu et al explained that although tumor necrosis factor (TNF) agents are effective therapies for psoriasis, treatment failure with anti-TNF agents may occur and switching to another anti-TNF agent or another biologic with a different mechanism of action may be needed. Both biologic therapies ADA and UST are effective therapies for psoriasis patients who previously received ETA. The investigators sought to compare health care resource utilization and health care costs in adult psoriasis patients who were switched from ETA to UST (n=365) versus from ETA to ADA (n=1335).
Health care resource utilization included the total number of days with medical services, including outpatient visits, inpatient days, emergency department visits, and other medical services measured over the 12-month study period. Health care costs included total pharmacy costs and total medical service costs incurred over the 12-month study period and were measured from a payer’s perspective.
The investigators reported that UST patients had statistically significantly more days with medical services (P=.02) compared to ADA patients, mainly driven by more outpatient visits (P<.01). Ustekinumab patients also had a greater total annual health care cost by $14,356 (P<.01). The cost difference was primarily driven by greater pharmacy costs (cost difference, $13,682; P<.01).
This study was funded by AbbVie Inc.