PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News | 2021
Opioid abuse-prevention program cost effective in South Korea
Abstract
An opioid abuse-prevention program embedded into the Narcotics Information Management System in South Korea appears to be cost effective, according to findings of a study published in Value in Health. A Markov model with six health states (no opioid use, therapeutic use, opioid abuse, overdose, overdose-related death and all-cause death) was used to evaluate the cost effectiveness of implementing an opioid abuse-prevention program in outpatients prescribed opioid analgesics, from a South Korean healthcare payer perspective over a 30-year time horizon. In the base-case analysis, implementation of the opioid abuse-prevention program was estimated to reduce the number of overdoses by 2.27 per 100 000 patient-years compared with not implementing the program, and gain 0.00505 additional QALYs at an incremental cost of $1.15, resulting in an estimated incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $227* per QALY gained. In probabilistic sensitivity analysis, the cost-utility acceptability curve showed that the program would have 100% probability of being cost effective at a willingness-to-pay (WTP) threshold of $900 per QALY gained. Scenario analysis from a societal perspective found that implementation of the program was dominant (more effective and less costly) compared with no abuse-prevention program, with estimated cost savings of $1076 per QALY gained. The program is a cost-effective strategy at the WTP threshold of GDP** per capita in South Korea.† Policy makers should consider the mandatory use of the opioid abuse–prevention program and seek effective strategies to optimize prescriber participation in the program, said the authors.