Objectives: Assess the efficiency of biologic treatment for moderate to severe ulcerative colitis (UC) which are indicated and financed for this pathology by Spain.
Methods: A Markov model was constructed to simulate the progression in a cohort of patients with moderate to severe UC. The perspective chosen was National Health Service with an over 10 years of time horizon, with a discount rate of 3%, and established threshold of €30,000/quality-adjusted life-year (QALY).
Results: The comparison between infliximab versus adalimumab achieved an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of €45,582/QALY, with a 0.900 QALYs difference of efficacy and an incremental cost of €41,036. Golimumab versus adalimumab reached an ICER of €2,175,992/QALY, with a difference of 0.001 QALY in efficacy and a raising cost to €2,611. The comparison between vedolizumab with adalimumab achieved an ICER of €90,532/QALY, 0.930 QALYs of difference and an increasing cost of €84,218. The probabilistic sensitivity analysis shows that adalimumab would be cost-effective in the 65.2% of the simulations, infliximab in the 18.4%, golimumab in the 16.4% and vedulizumab for the 0%.
Conclusions: Among all these drugs studied, adalimumab is the most cost-effective drug for the treatment of moderate to severe UC for a threshold of €30,000/QALY in Spain.
Keywords: Markov model; Ulcerative colitis; adalimumab; cost-effectiveness analysis; golimumab; infliximab; vedolizumab.