Potential impact of immediate release opioid analgesics with tamper resistant technologies on abuse treatment and drug acquisition costs

Abstract

To evaluate medical and pharmacy costs associated with breakthrough pain (BTP) in a commercially-insured population with chronic, cancer-related pain. METHODS: The National Breakthrough Pain Survey studied a large commercially-insured population using claims data and structured interviews to assess the prevalence, characteristics, and impact of BTP. Adult patients with ≥2 medical claims at an interval ≥3 months with an ICD-9-CM code indicating a chronic pain condition (cancer or noncancer) and ≥3 opioid prescription claims consistent with chronic use were eligible. Patients were called and interviewed after providing consent; those verifying cancer pain were included in this sub-analysis. All-cause medical and pharmacy costs in 2010 US dollars were determined from administrative claims data for the 12-month period before the survey date. Generalized linear models with gamma distribution were constructed because of the skewed nature of the cost data. RESULTS: A total of 2198 patients were interviewed, 1279 had controlled persistent pain, and 145 of the latter group had cancer pain. Of those with cancer pain, BTP was reported by 77.2% (BTP, 112; no BTP, 33

Economic Burden of Prescription Opioid Misuse and Abuse: A Systematic Review

“…A final group of 16 publications were selected for inclusion in the report. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] The two primary reasons for exclusion were an abuse treatment focus (15) and lack of cost data (12). A CASP checklist was completed for these 16 publications to assess quality.…”

“…Costs were evaluated in two studies in general Medicaid patients, 15 23 Six studies presented data on different patient groups or special circumstances that make them difficult to compare with the studies above. 10,12,19,21,22,24 Bazalo et al 10 developed a budget impact model for a 1,000,000 member hypothetical plan and compared the cost of patients taking oxycodone, assuming that 20% of those patients would be placed on an abuse-deterrent formulation of oxycodone. Although drug costs were higher by 0.6%, overall a cost savings of $4,911 per oxycodone-treated opioid abuse patient was estimated.…”