Cost-effectiveness of empagliflozin for the treatment of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction in China

AIM: To determine the pharmacoeconomics of empagliflozin for the treatment of heart failure (HF) with reduced ejection fraction in China and to provide evidence-based reference for clinical rational drug selection and medical decision-making. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We used the Markov model to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of empagliflozin for the treatment of HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). We evaluated the cost-effectiveness of the standard treatment in addition to empagliflozin (empagliflozin group) vs. the cost-effectiveness of the standard treatment alone (standard treatment group). RESULTS: We found that each additional quality-adjusted life year (QALY) in the empagliflozin group costed $3,842.20 more, which was less than China’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in 2021 ($11,981). The steady-state mortality in the two groups was the key factor affecting the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). Probabilistic sensitivity analysis revealed that when the willingness-to-pay (WTP) threshold was one time the GDP per capita in 2021 ($11,981) and three times the GDP per capita in 2021 ($35,943), the probability of the empagliflozin group being cost-effective was 85.8 and 91.6%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Compared with the standard treatment alone, the addition of empagliflozin to the standard treatment was more cost-effective for the treatment of HFrEF in China.