Beijing, China - Linezolid is a relatively new approved antibiotic in China for the treatment of hospital-acquired pneumonia. As linezolid has been shown to be a cost-effective alternative in comparison to vancomycin in many countries such as the USA, Germany and Brazil, researchers from
IMS Health in Asia sought out to learn if superior efficacy of linezolid compared with vancomycin would be demonstrated in a head-to-head clinical study in China.
As described in the article, “
Cost-Effectiveness of Linezolid versus Vancomycin Among Patients with Methicillin-Resistant Nosocomial Pneumonia in China,” published in
Value in Health Regional Issues, Volume 3, the researchers compared linezolid against branded vancomycin in terms of its cost-effectiveness value in treating methicillin-resistant hospital acquired pneumonia from the payer’s perspectives in Beijing, Nanjing, Guangzhou, and Xi’an.
Through a simulation using clinical trial data, the probability of overall treatment success was predicted as 0.629 and 0.602 for linezolid and vancomycin, respectively. The total inpatient costs ranged from ¥58,835 to ¥86,894 for linezolid and ¥58,390 to ¥87,033 for vancomycin, respectively. Linezolid was demonstrated to be a dominant strategy resulting in cost-saving with better outcomes in Guangzhou and a cost-effective strategy in Beijing, Nanjing, and Xi’an with incremental cost-effectiveness ratios in terms of additional successfully treated patient being ¥1,861, ¥163, and ¥16,509, respectively.
“This is the first cost-effectiveness study that evaluated linezolid against vancomycin in the treatment of methicillin resistant nosocomial pneumonia in the local contexts of China. The robustness of the base case findings in this analysis were further supported by the consistent cost-saving or cost-effective findings through a series of sensitivity and scenario analyses.” says lead author, Seng Chuen Tan, BPharm(Hons), MSc, Health Economics & Outcomes Research at IMS Health Asia-Pacific in Singapore.
Value in Health Regional Issues (ISSN 2212-1099) is a scientific journal that encourages and enhances the science of pharmacoeconomic/health economic and health outcomes research and its use in health care decisions. The journal is published up to three times a year with one issue focusing on the Asia region, one issue focusing on the Latin America region, and one issue focusing on the Central & Eastern Europe, Western Asia and Africa regions.
The International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) is a nonprofit, international, educational and scientific organization that strives to increase the efficiency, effectiveness, and fairness of health care resource use to improve health.
Follow Value in Health Regional Issues on Twitter: @ISPORJournals