Cost-effectiveness treatment with Rituximab in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in real life.

The cost-effectiveness of treatments that have the potential to change the "natural history" of a chronic progressive disease has to be evaluated over the long term. Cost-effectiveness estimates have been based on the concept that, with treatment, patients will not progress to the next level(s) of disease severity or will take a longer time to progress, thus avoiding or delaying the high costs and low utility associated with more severe disease. This analysis focused on the use of Rituximab in treating patients with moderate to severe RA for whom at least one anti-TNFα blocking agent had failed. The aim of our study was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness in 32 patients with rheumatoid arthritis in therapy with a single infusion of Rituximab 1,000 mg given on days 1 and 15 of each month for 1 year. After 6 months of treatment, we observed for all 32 patients a total quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained of 11,840 with an average of 0.37 QALY for a single patient, a treatment cost of euro 5,610 and a QALY/cost ICER (incremental cost-effectiveness ratio) of euro 15,114. After 1 year of treatment, we observed data for 28 patients with a total QALY gained of 11,480 with an average of 0.41 QALY for a single patient, a treatment cost of euro 9,690 and a QALY/cost ICER (incremental cost-effectiveness ratio) of euro 23,696. The benefit of using Rituximab is cost-effectiveness with a QALY/gained under the acceptable threshold of euro 50,000 in our observational study. These are important data for discussion from the economic point of view when we choose a biologic therapy for rheumatoid arthritis in clinical practice.