Cost-effectiveness of an Adjuvanted Hepatitis B Vaccine (HEPLISAV-B™) inPatients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Abstract Background Compare the cost-effectiveness of two recombinant hepatitis B vaccines (HBV) in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Methods Markov models were developed for two IBD cohorts: A) 40-year-old patients prior to starting IBD treatment and B) 40-year-old patients already receiving therapy. Cohort A received full vaccination series, cohort B had primary vaccine failure and received a vaccine booster. Two vaccines were compared: adjuvanted HEPLISAV-B™ and nonadjuvanted Engerix-B®. Clinical probabilities of acute hepatitis, chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, fulminant hepatic failure and death, treatment costs and effectiveness estimates were obtained from published literature. A lifetime analysis and a U.S. payer perspective were used. Probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed for different hypothetical scenarios. Results Analysis of cohort A showed moderate cost-effectiveness of HEPLISAV-B™ ($88,114 per quality adjusted life-year [QALY]). Analysis of cohort B showed increased cost effectiveness ($35,563 per QALY). Changing Engerix-B® to HEPLISAV-B™ in a hypothetical group of 100,000 patients prevented 6 and 30 cases of acute hepatitis; and 4 and 5 cases of chronic hepatitis annually for cohort A and B respectively. It also prevented 1 and 2 cases of cirrhosis, and 1 and 2 deaths over 20 years for each cohort. Cost-effectiveness was determined by vaccination costs, patient age and progression rate from chronic hepatitis to cirrhosis. Conclusions HEPLISAV-B™ is cost-effective over Engerix-B® in patients receiving immunosuppressive therapy for IBD. Benefits increase with population aging and lower costs of vaccines. We advocate measuring protective level of HBV antibodies in patients with IBD and favor adjuvanted vaccines when vaccination is needed.