Healthcare resource use and costs of multiple sclerosis patients in Germany before and during fampridine treatment

Abstract

BackgroundMultiple sclerosis (MS) patients often suffer from gait impairment and fampridine is indicated to medically improve walking ability in this population. Patient characteristics, healthcare resource use, and costs of MS patients on fampridine treatment for 12 months in Germany were analyzed.MethodsA retrospective claims database analysis was conducted including MS patients who initiated fampridine treatment (index date) between July 2011 and December 2013. Continuous insurance enrollment during 12 months pre- and post-index date was required, as was at least 1 additional fampridine prescription in the fourth quarter after the index date. Patient characteristics were evaluated and pre- vs post-index MS-related healthcare utilization and costs were compared.ResultsA total of 562 patients were included in this study. The mean (standard deviation [SD]) age was 50.5 (9.8) years and 63% were female. In the treatment period, almost every patient had at least 1 MS-related outpatient visit, 24% were hospitalized due to MS, and 79% utilized MS-specific physical therapy in addition to the fampridine treatment. Total MS-related healthcare costs were significantly higher in the fampridine treatment period than in the period prior to fampridine initiation (€17,392 vs €10,960, P < 0.001). While this difference was driven primarily by prescription costs, MS-related inpatient costs were lower during fampridine treatment (€1,333 vs €1,565, P < 0.001).ConclusionsPhysical therapy is mainly used concomitant to fampridine treatment. While healthcare costs were higher during fampridine treatment compared to the pre-treatment period, inpatient costs were lower. Further research is necessary to better understand the fampridine influence.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12883-017-0844-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Economic costs incurred by the patients with Multiple Sclerosis at different levels of the disease: a cross-sectional study in northwest Iran

“…A recent study from Germany demonstrated that healthcare costs increases with severity but the inpatient costs decreases (31). Our study actually demonstrated the same but in different context.…”

“…These costs are based on the exchange rates of the Central Bank of Iran, expressed in US dollars (a dollar equivalent to 42,000 IRR, on 30 May 2018) (31). The reference year was May 2017 to May 2018 for cost estimation.…”

Predicting responsiveness to fampridine in gait‐impaired patients with multiple sclerosis

“…Despite the high prevalence of walking dysfunction in PwMS, the only approved medical treatment for improving MS-associated gait deficits is fampridine (4-aminopyridine, dalfampridine) [2]. Treatment with prolonged-release (PR)-fampridine results in significant and persisting improvements in ambulatory function in a proportion of PwMS [3][4][5][6][7][8][9] by blocking potassium channels of demyelinated axons [10].…”

Economic costs incurred by the patients with multiple sclerosis at different levels of the disease: a cross-sectional study in Northwest Iran

“…The multivariate linear regression was used for assigning the relationship between the disease condition and various costs imposed on pwms. These costs are based on the exchange rates of the Central Bank of Iran, expressed in US dollars and EURO (a USD and EURO equivalent to 42,000 IRR and 49,280 IRR on 20 May 2018, respectively) [34]. Due to sanction, we could not provide international Dollar for 2018.…”