OBJECTIVES

: Early economic evaluations can help inform decision-making and support go/stop decisions as well as evidence generation planning. In therapeutic areas with enough commonalities, generic early models can be developed that can be used across indications. To test that hypothesis, we developed a generic and simple economic model of vaccination that we wanted to be applicable to various types of vaccines.

METHODS

: We started with an influence diagram encompassing all elements of value that would typically be included in a cost-effectiveness analysis of vaccines, then defined four infectious disease archetypes that would fit in the proposed framework. We wanted archetypes that would cover common infectious disease pathologies. These archetypes were: acute infections that are common and mild in infants, acute infections that are rare and severe (i.e. leading to complications, sequelae and/or death) in infants, acute infections that are severe in older populations, and finally infections that can infect early but for which the impact occur much later in life through chronic illness.

RESULTS

: We described four hypothetical vaccines that would prevent these infection archetypes and ran multiple scenarios to identify the main value drivers for each. We compared our results to recent publications of cost-effectiveness analyses of such vaccines to assess the validity of our findings.

CONCLUSIONS

: There are limitations to the simple structure as it does not capture recurrences of infections throughout lifetime, such as pertussis or urinary tract infections. Also the model does not account for any population effects and therefore results in a conservative estimate of the potential impact. However, the generic model can be applicable to a wide range of common acute infections and those with long-term impact. We found that the generic model can be incredibly useful to pressure test a target product profile and get a rapid assessment of economic value and economically justifiable price.