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Artificial Vision 2013

The International Symposium on Visual Prosthetics

08.11. - 09.11.2013, Aachen

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The Cost-Effectiveness of the Argus II retinal prosthesis system in Retinitis Pigmentosa patients

Meeting Abstract

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  • Anil Vaidya - O-Zone health economics and outcomes research consultancy, Maastricht, Netherlands
  • E. Borgonovi - Public Management & Policy Department, Bocconi University, Milan, Italy
  • R.S. Taylor - Exeter, UK
  • J.-A. Sahel - Paris, France
  • S. Rizzo - Pisa, Italy
  • P.E. Stanga - Manchester, UK
  • A. Kukreja - Second Sight Medical Products, Lausanne, Switzerland
  • P. Walter - Aachen, Germany

Artificial Vision 2013. Aachen, 08.-09.11.2013. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2014. Doc13artvis36

doi: 10.3205/13artvis36, urn:nbn:de:0183-13artvis360

Published: February 13, 2014

© 2014 Vaidya et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

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Objective: To assess the cost-effectiveness of the Argus® II Retinal Prosthesis System (Argus II) in Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) patients. Design: Decision analysis model based-comparison of long term costs and health outcomes of Argus II implantation versus usual care (i.e. nursing care and rehabilitation) in RP patients. Participants: A hypothetical cohort of 1000 RP patients aged 46 years followed up over a (lifetime) 25-year time horizon.

Method: A multi -state transition Markov model was developed to determine the cost-effectiveness of Argus II versus usual care in RP from the perspective of healthcare payer. Health outcomes were expressed as quality adjusted life years (QALYs) and direct healthcare costs expressed in 2012 €. Results are reported as incremental cost per ratios (ICERs) with outcomes and costs discounted at an annual rate of 3.5%.

Results: The ICER for Argus II was €14,603 /QALY. Taking into account the uncertainty in model inputs the ICER was €14,482/QALY in the probabilistic analysis. In the scenarios of an assumption of no reduction on cost across model visual acuity states or a model time horizon as short as 10 years the ICER increased to €31,890/QALY and €49,769/QALY respectively.

Conclusion: This economic evaluation shows that Argus II is a cost-effective intervention compared to usual care of the RP patients. The lifetime analysis ICER for Argus II falls below the published societal willingness to pay of EuroZone countries.