Lacosamide as treatment of epileptic seizures - cost utility results for Sweden.

OBJECTIVES

To calculate cost per additional quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) for lacosamide as adjunctive treatment for patients with uncontrolled partial-onset seizures as compared to no adjunctive treatment.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A decision-tree simulation model was constructed to calculate the number of seizures and health-care utilization for treated and untreated with lacosamide, respectively. Prices from 2007 were used for all costs.

RESULTS

All results were calculated for a 24-, 18-, 12- and 6-months follow-up. The cost per additional QALY was estimated to euro 27,641 (24 months). Using a willingness-to-pay threshold for a QALY of euro 50,000 the net marginal value of using lacosamide was estimated to about euro 850,000 per 1000 patients.

CONCLUSIONS

The estimated cost per QALY gained falls within the range of reported estimates of the willingness-to-pay for an additional QALY. The results imply that lacosamide is cost-effective in the treatment of uncontrolled partial-onset seizures (1 euro approximately 9.6 SEK).