OBJECTIVES:  Despite the Brazilian constitution guaranteeing universal access to healthcare, 23% of Brazilians have a private healthcare plan. Drug coverage in the private sector is regulated by the National Agency for Supplementary Health, which in 2011 stated the mandatory cost reimbursement for immunobiologic drugs (bDMARD) for Crohn’s disease (CD). Presented here is a Health Technology Assessment (HTA) approach on certolizumab pegol (CZP) for treatment of CD. METHODS:  Data on utilization of treatment resources and disease-related costs were sourced from a private-sector survey of 36 respondents. In addition, the following DATASUS information was utilized to describe market dynamics: percentage of new patients (31%), switching (5%) and discontinuation (19%). On considering data from systematic reviews (SR), CZP was assumed to have equal efficacy to infliximab (IFX) and adalimumab (ADA); thus, a cost-minimization analysis (CMA) was conducted. For the 10-year CMA, an eight-state Markov model was developed using Microsoft Excel. The transition states were: initial treatment with bDMARD, remission, response, treatment failure, surgery, surgical remission, conventional treatment and death. The data for these states were also from SR. The budget impact analysis (BIA) had a 5-year horizon and calculated the population on immunobiologics based on historical DATASUS percentages. A probabilistic sensitivity analysis was conducted using 1,000 random simulations, with the following variables: relative remission maintenance and risk, patient weight, CZP share, withdrawal, switching and enrollment rates and costs. RESULTS:  In the CMA, the costs calculated for 10-year treatment were: BRL 149k (IFX); BRL 118k (ADA) and BRL 83k (CZP). The probabilistic sensitivity analysis showed CZP to be less costly than comparators in all simulations. The BIA indicates that CZP provides a cost-saving of BRL 317k for the assumed 100-patient cohort over a 5-year period. CONCLUSIONS: CZP was shown to provide a cost-saving option over other anti-TNFs in the Brazilian private healthcare system.