NASP: Use of Biologics in Psoriasis Patients Increases Health Care Costs

Total health care costs associated with the use of biologic therapy on patients with psoriasis increased significantly from 2008 to 2013 according to a poster at the 2015 NASP Annual Conference that evaluated cost trends from a US managed care perspective. The increase was primarily accounted for by a rise in psoriasis-related drug costs.

The study, Recent Cost Trends in Patients Using Biologic Therapies for the Treatment of Psoriasis, analyzed data from the MarketScan Commercial and Medicare Supplemental databases. Inclusion criteria were patients with ≥2 outpatient diagnoses of psoriasis, pa­tients whose first biologic index date occurred between July 2008 and July 2013, and patients who were biologic-naïve for ≥6 months before the index date. In addition, participants were required to have full access to all medical and pharmacy claims for at least 6 months before, and at least 12 months after, their index.

Health care costs were evaluated from the payer’s standpoint and were established based on annual reimbursed amounts for the 6 annual patient cohorts that started biologic therapy between 2008 and 2013. Conclusions were classified by the average annual cost for all health care expenditures vs psoriasis-related costs, and broken down into emergency room, medical inpatient, medical outpatient, and pharmacy costs.

From 2008 to 2013, health care costs for patients with psoriasis on biologic therapy significantly increased for US managed care payers. For the 13,045 patients included in this study, the average annual cost for all health care expenditures increased 55.3% from $27,973 in 2008 to $43,431 in 2013. The annual psoriasis-related costs increased 63.8% from $19,991 in 2008 to $32,739 in 2013, while psoriasis-related drug costs rose 84.2% from $15,871 in 2008 to $29,240 in 2013.

The researchers concluded that the increase in psoriasis-related drug costs accounted for a substantial portion of the overall increase in psoriasis-related costs.—Alessia D’Anna

This study was funded by Celgene Corporation.