OBJECTIVES: A new dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor, saxagliptin, has been recently approved for the T2D treatment. This study evaluates the budget impact of the introduction of saxagliptin to the Brazilian Private Healthcare System (PHS). METHODS: A model was developed to estimate the annual cost of T2D treatment per patient of the population potentially impacted by the introduction of saxagliptin to the PHS. The analysis also estimates the economic impact to the system of all oral anti-diabetic drugs (OADs) for 3 consecutive years. Target population (T2D patients on OADs and HbA1c uncontrolled) and patient distribution across therapeutic options are based on epidemiological and pharmacoepidemiological data, and clinical specialist interviews. Pharmaceutical direct costs are based on factory price (FP) and Defined Daily Dose (DDD). We assumed saxagliptin FP to be 115.3% of sitagliptin FP. Univariate Deterministic sensitivity analysis is conducted to determine the impact of parameters on results. RESULTS: The growth in population and prevalence increased the target population throughout the analysis. The prevalence estimate in year 1 was 328,218 and increased to 349,212 in year 3. The growth also impacted total costs in scenario without saxagliptin, which increased by US$2,812,671 during this period, reaching US$77,249,307 in year 3. Total costs in scenario with saxagliptin, however, remained stable around US$74,000,000/year. Introduction of saxagliptin is expected to be economical to the PHS, with savings of US$3,048,812 in year 3. Annual savings per patient potentially impacted by the introduction of saxagliptin correspond to 8% of pharmaceutical costs at year 3. Sensitvity analysis demonstrated that saxagliptin price is the most impactful parameter in the model, and a 25% increase over its price would still generate savings around US$2,100,000 to the PHS. CONCLUSIONS: Introduction of saxagliptin as a therapeutic option to patients with T2D in the PHS will save around US$4,900,000 in the next three years.