White Blood Cells
Cost-Effective Use of White Blood Cell Growth Factors in the Veterans Administration
This study analyzed the use of granulocyte colony-stimulating (G-CSF) vs pegfilgrastim in the UD Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system. The researchers looked at the relative frequency of use of filgrastim, Tbo-filgrastim, Filgrastim-sndz and pegfilgrastim at 23 VA sites and found that uptake of biosimilar G-CSF has been extremely rapid. All sites are using biosimilar GCSF for all new patients; 6 of 23 sites were comfortable shifting current patients on branded G-CSF to the biosimilar.However, switching to a Tbo-filgrastim brought a cost savings of 2.2% that was "small compared to other clinical changes."
This analysis described the association between white blood cell (EBC) levels and occurrence of thrombotic events among patients with polycythemia vera (PV) using Veterans Health Administration claims data collected between 2005 and 2012. The researchers found A significant, positive association between increased WBC counts and occurrence of thrombotic events in patients with PV was observed in this study. Patients with WBC counts ≥ 8.5 × 109/L had a significantly increased risk of thrombotic events, and those with counts ≥ 11.0 × 109/L were at greatest risk. Effective control of WBC counts is an important component of disease management and may reduce risk of thrombotic events in patients with PV.