Herpes Zoster Vaccine: a Health Economic Evaluation for Switzerland
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Zurich Open Repository and Archive University of Zurich Main Library Strickhofstrasse 39 CH-8057 Zurich www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 2017 Herpes zoster vaccine: A health economic evaluation for Switzerland Blank, Patricia R ; Ademi, Zanfina ; Lu, Xiaoyan ; Szucs, Thomas D ; Schwenkglenks, Matthias Abstract: Herpes zoster (HZ) or ”shingles” results from a reactivation of the varicella zoster virus (VZV) acquired during primary infection (chickenpox) and surviving in the dorsal root ganglia. In about 20% of cases, a complication occurs, known as post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN). A live attenuated vaccine against VZV is available for the prevention of HZ and subsequent PHN. The present study aims to update an earlier evaluation estimating the cost-effectiveness of the HZ vaccine from a Swiss third party payer perspective. It takes into account updated vaccine prices, a different age cohort, latest clinical data and burden of illness data. A Markov model was developed to simulate the lifetime consequences of vaccinating 15% of the Swiss population aged 65-79 y. Information from sentinel data, official statistics and published literature were used. Endpoints assessed were number of HZ and PHN cases, quality- adjusted life years (QALYs), costs of hospitalizations, consultations and prescriptions. Based on a vaccine price of CHF 162, the vaccination strategy accrued additional costs of CHF 17,720,087 and gained 594 QALYs. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was CHF 29,814 per QALY gained. Sensitivity analyses showed that the results were most sensitive to epidemiological inputs, utility values, discount rates, duration of vaccine efficacy, and vaccine price. Probabilistic sensitivity analyses indicated amore than 99% chance that the ICER was below 40,000 CHF per QALY. Findings were in line with existing cost-effectiveness analyses of HZ vaccination. This updated study supports the value of an HZ vaccination strategy targeting the Swiss population aged 65-79 y. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2017.1308987 Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-144114 Journal Article Published Version The following work is licensed under a Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) License. Originally published at: Blank, Patricia R; Ademi, Zanfina; Lu, Xiaoyan; Szucs, Thomas D; Schwenkglenks, Matthias (2017). Herpes zoster vaccine: A health economic evaluation for Switzerland. Human Vaccines Immunothera- peutics, 13(7):1495-1504. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2017.1308987 Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics ISSN: 2164-5515 (Print) 2164-554X (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/khvi20 Herpes zoster vaccine: A health economic evaluation for Switzerland Patricia R. Blank, Zanfina Ademi, Xiaoyan Lu, Thomas D. Szucs & Matthias Schwenkglenks To cite this article: Patricia R. Blank, Zanfina Ademi, Xiaoyan Lu, Thomas D. Szucs & Matthias Schwenkglenks (2017) Herpes zoster vaccine: A health economic evaluation for Switzerland, Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics, 13:7, 1495-1504, DOI: 10.1080/21645515.2017.1308987 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2017.1308987 © 2017 The Author(s). Published with View supplementary material license by Taylor & Francis© Patricia R. Blank, Zanfina Ademi, Xiaoyan Lu, Thomas D. Szucs, and Matthias Schwenkglenks Published online: 08 May 2017. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 455 View related articles View Crossmark data Citing articles: 1 View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=khvi20 Download by: [UZH Hauptbibliothek / Zentralbibliothek Zürich] Date: 02 January 2018, At: 13:43 HUMAN VACCINES & IMMUNOTHERAPEUTICS 2017, VOL. 13, NO. 7, 1495–1504 https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2017.1308987 RESEARCH PAPER Herpes zoster vaccine: A health economic evaluation for Switzerland Patricia R. Blanka, Zanfina Ademia, Xiaoyan Lub, Thomas D. Szucsa, and Matthias Schwenkglenksa aUniversity of Basel, Institute of Pharmaceutical Medicine (ECPM), Basel, Switzerland; bSanofi Pasteur MSD, Lyon, France ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY Herpes zoster (HZ) or “shingles” results from a reactivation of the varicella zoster virus (VZV) acquired Received 16 November 2016 during primary infection (chickenpox) and surviving in the dorsal root ganglia. In about 20% of cases, a Revised 12 February 2017 complication occurs, known as post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN). A live attenuated vaccine against VZV is Accepted 14 March 2017 available for the prevention of HZ and subsequent PHN. The present study aims to update an earlier KEYWORDS evaluation estimating the cost-effectiveness of the HZ vaccine from a Swiss third party payer perspective. cost-effectiveness; herpes It takes into account updated vaccine prices, a different age cohort, latest clinical data and burden of zoster; post-herpetic illness data. A Markov model was developed to simulate the lifetime consequences of vaccinating 15% of neuralgia; Switzerland; the Swiss population aged 65–79 y. Information from sentinel data, official statistics and published vaccination literature were used. Endpoints assessed were number of HZ and PHN cases, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), costs of hospitalizations, consultations and prescriptions. Based on a vaccine price of CHF 162, the vaccination strategy accrued additional costs of CHF 17,720,087 and gained 594 QALYs. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was CHF 29,814 per QALY gained. Sensitivity analyses showed that the results were most sensitive to epidemiological inputs, utility values, discount rates, duration of vaccine efficacy, and vaccine price. Probabilistic sensitivity analyses indicated a more than 99% chance that the ICER was below 40,000 CHF per QALY. Findings were in line with existing cost-effectiveness analyses of HZ vaccination. This updated study supports the value of an HZ vaccination strategy targeting the Swiss population aged 65–79 y. Introduction Due to the fact that almost everyone has had chickenpox as Infection with the varicella zoster virus (VZV) primarily causes a child, almost everyone is at risk. However, it is currently not chickenpox. It can cause herpes zoster (HZ) or “shingles” in the possible to predict who will develop HZ, ophthalmic zoster and later life of persons with a primary infection. HZ causes rash and PHN. There is evidence that the proportion of patients (severe) pain. Pain persists for an extended time period after the experiencing PHN increases with age to about 34% in HZ cutaneous eruption has healed, in about 25% of cases with post-her- patients aged 80 years.12 petic neuralgia (PHN).1 PHN is defined as pain persisting after the A live attenuated vaccine against varicella zoster virus infec- typical cutaneous rash has healed. This is in contrast to pain due to tion is available (ZostavaxÒ, MERCK & CO., INC) for the pre- swelling and inflammation when the rash is still persisting and not vention of HZ and subsequent PHN. The efficacy of this due to nerve damage. The time during which pain must persist after vaccine has been tested in 2 randomized studies.4,13,14 Further- healing for the rash to be classified as PHN varies between guide- more, retrospective cohort studies have confirmed the effective- lines (1 week, 28 days, 3 months). While there is no international ness under real-life conditions.15,16 The vaccine received a consensus on the definition of PHN, the most commonly accepted marketing authorization for immunocompetent individuals one is based on a time of 3 months, and this definition was also aged 50 y or older by the European Agency for the Evaluation Downloaded by [UZH Hauptbibliothek / Zentralbibliothek Zürich] at 13:43 02 January 2018 used in this article.2-4 Patients with PHN can develop severe physi- of Medicinal Products (EMA), and several European countries cal, occupational and social disabilities as a consequence of the recommend and/or fund HZ vaccination, including Austria, enduring pain,5-7 with a profound impact on daily live.8 Greece, the UK and France, as well as some regions in Ger- Because of age-related decrease in cell-mediated immunity, many, Italy and Spain.17 However, the vaccine has not been the individual lifetime risk of developing HZ increases with introduced in the Swiss vaccination plan.18,19 higher age.1,9 The annual incidence of HZ is as high as 10 per An economic evaluation of HZ vaccination in elderly people 1,000 patient-years in persons over 75 y of age.10 According to aged 70–79 y in the Swiss population was conducted in 2011 by incidence estimates for Switzerland, about 11,000 people older one of the authors of the present study (TD Szucs) and col- than 50 y old are affected each year by HZ.11 leagues. Since this economic evaluation was conducted, new CONTACT Patricia R. Blank [email protected] University of Basel, ECPM Institute of Pharmaceutical Medicine, Klingelbergstrasse 61, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland. Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website. © 2017 Patricia R. Blank, Zanfina Ademi, Xiaoyan Lu, Thomas D. Szucs, and Matthias Schwenkglenks. Published with license by Taylor & Francis. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. 1496 P. R. BLANK ET AL. data on the duration of the vaccine efficacy based on long-term Sensitivity analysis efficacy data have become available and input parameter values Deterministic sensitivity analysis (demographics, hospitalization costs, coverage and vaccine Table 2 illustrates the impact on the ICER resulting from a price assumptions) have changed.4,20 series of sensitivity analyses performed for the included popula- The present study aims to update the earlier economic eval- tion. The results were sensitive to several parameters.