Patients with tardive dyskinesia taking valbenazine had a higher proportion of inpatient stays and emergency department visits, as well as higher costs, than patients receiving deutetrabenazine. Researchers presented their findings at AMCP 2023. 

Investigators conducted a retrospective cohort study to compare health care resource utilization and relative, all-cause cost differences in patients receiving deutetrabenazine vs valbenazine.

“Clinical trials have shown improvement in patients receiving these agents compared with placebo, as measured by rating scales for involuntary movements,” shared the researchers. “While utilization of these agents in routine clinical practice is increasing based on prescription volume, their impact on health care resource utilization and cost from a health plan perspective is unknown.”

Researchers used enrollment, medical, and pharmacy claims data from the Humana Research Database to identify 449 patients with tardive dyskinesia who were enrolled in Medicare Advantage prescription drug plans. Patients were eligible for the study if they:

• received deutetrabenazine or valbenazine between April 1, 2017, and March 30, 2021;
• were aged 19 to 89 years;
• did not display evidence for Huntington’s Disease; and
• were continuously enrolled at least 6 months prior to and 12 months after their first claim for deutetrabenazine or valbenazine. 

Nearly 70% of patients were female, and the average age of study participants was 60 years. Compared to deutetrabenazine, valbenazine was associated with a higher proportion of all-cause inpatient stays (29.8% vs 22%, P < .01) and all-cause emergency department visits (56.1% vs 47.9%, P < .05). 

Patients receiving valbenazine also had 8% higher total costs (P < .05), 24% higher medical costs (P < .05), and 5% higher pharmacy costs. The higher total costs for valbenazine may be due to the higher pharmacy cost, researchers advised.

“Further investigation on movement disorder diagnoses codes and variations in provider specialty backgrounds may help elucidate factors that may be driving the differences in health care resource use,” concluded the researchers. 

Reference:
Ham C, Vaccaro J, Meah Y, et al. A real-world comparison of healthcare resource use in new users of deutetrabenazine versus valbenazine. J Manag Care Spec Pharm. 2023;29(10-a suppl):S1-S137. https://www.jmcp.org/pb-assets/Poster%20Abstract%20Supplements/AMCP2023_PosterAbstractSupplement_0317-1679318682267.pdf