OBJECTIVES: Due to limited health care resources economic evaluations of alternative drug treatment methods become more important, especially in chronic diseases like diabetes mellitus. Therefore a systematic literature review of health economic evaluations comparing GLA with DET as the basal component of an ICT in patients with type 1 diabetes was performed. METHODS: The search was performed between January 1, 2000 and December 1, 2009 via Embase, Medline, the Cochrane Library, the databases of German Medical Science and of DAHTA (Deutsche Agentur für Health Technology Assessment), and abstract books of relevant scientific congresses. The inclusion of retrieved studies was based on predefined criteria. The included studies were assessed according to established methodological and quality aspects. RESULTS: A total of 4 health-economic evaluations from 4 different countries were included: 2 modeling studies, comprising 1 cost-utility analysis (CUA) and one cost-minimization analysis (CMA), as well as 2 claims data analyses, both CMAs. Two of the CMAs show an economic advantage in favour of GLA vs. DET and the third CMA showed cost neutrality between the basal insulin analogues. The CUA showed an economic advantage for DET. CONCLUSIONS: Despite some differences concerning evaluation methods (CUA or CMA), data sources (randomized controlled trial, claims data) and country specific conditions (pricing and reimbursement situation) the identified health economic analyses showed high conformity concerning the target parameters. Two of the studies showed an advantage in favour of GLA compared to DET, the extent of which depended on the respective design of the health economic analysis chosen. A systematic review to compare the health economic outcomes of GLA and NPH-insulin was done separately. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: This study was supported by Sanofi-Aventis Deutschland GmbH, Berlin, Germany.