Abstract

In this issue of Value in Health, Caro and associates report on their development of a simulation to measure the relative costs of two different oral prescription medications for the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus: nateglinide and metformin. The primary finding in the study was that patients treated with nateglinide showed a 3-year treatment cost reduction of $295 in comparison to metformin, primarily owing to a 2.4-month reduction in the time it took patients to achieve dual glycemic control, as measured by postprandial glucose (PPG) and hemoglobin A1c determinations (HbA1c). Of note is the development of a simulation tool that uses previously reported clinical data to apply the efficacy of each of the compared agents.