OBJECTIVES: To examine factors influencing patients’ willingness to pay (WTP) for disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) for multiple sclerosis (MS).

METHODS: Data were obtained from a survey study of 1,200 U.S. patients with MS on their preferences and WTP for DMTs conducted in 2017. Patient’s socioeconomic variables (i.e., age, gender, race, marital status, education, employment status, co-morbidity, health status, and health insurance) and MS experiences (i.e., number of years with MS, MS type, number of relapses, fatigue, mood-change, MS symptom, and DMT experience) were investigated as influencing factors. Patient’s WTP for a DMT was based on one question. A two-part model was estimated using logistic regression and generalized linear regression.

RESULTS: Data from 480 patients were analyzed. Their average age was 55 years old. Most of them were female (79%), white (97%), and married (71%). Approximately 46% of them were employed, 59% enrolled in private insurance, 74% had four-year college degrees or higher, 73% considered themselves having good or better health status, and 56% had more than two comorbid conditions. Approximately 63% of them had MS for more than 10 years, 44% had at least one relapse in last two years, 89% experienced fatigue, and 37% experienced mood-change. Most of them had relapsing-remitting MS (66%) and moderate disability or worse (62%). The average WTP for a DMT was $150 per month. Patients with graduate degrees or higher and patients with no fatigue were less willing to pay for DMTs. Patients, who were female, non-white, or uninsured, and patients, who had lower education level, had more than three comorbid conditions, had relapsing-remitting MS, or had used but discontinued DMTs were willing to pay less for DMTs.

CONCLUSIONS: Various patient’s socioeconomic variables and MS experiences, including gender, race, education, health insurance, fatigue, co-morbidity, MS type, and DMT experience, influenced patients’ WTP for DMTs.