Economical Evaluation of the Sustain Program for the Out-of-Hospital Administration of Abatacept for Rheumatoid Arthritis:

摘要

BackgroundThe introduction of biological therapies has greatly improved treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and patients' quality of life. Abatacept is a biological drug that can be given every 28 days by Intravenous Infusion (IvI). IvI administration takes a short period of time and does not require pre-medications nor specific post-infusion support. These characteristics allowed the launch of the SuSTAin Program for the out-of-hospital administration of abatacept IvI.ObjectThe main aim of this analysis was to assess the economic value generated by the SuSTAin Program for rheumatology centres and the Italian National Health Service (INHS).MethodsUsing the SuSTAin database and supported by a Delphi panel of eleven Italian rheumatology experts – one from each participating centre – we collected data about infusion duration and costs of IvI administration (nurse and rheumatologist)/control visit (rheumatologist). The analysis evaluated the saving generated by the SuSTAin Program for the INHS (avoided ref...