Effects of cardiovascular single pill combinations compared with identical multi-pill therapies on healthcare cost and utilization in Germany

• Published in: Journal of comparative effectiveness research Vol. 11; no. 6; pp. 411 - 422
• Main Authors: Wilke, Thomas, Weisser, Burkhard, Predel, Hans-Georg, Schmieder, Roland E, Wassmann, Sven, Gillessen, Anton, Blettenberg, Jörg, Maywald, Ulf, Randerath, Olaf, Müller, Sabrina, Böhm, Michael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Future Medicine Ltd 01.04.2022
• Subjects: Antihypertensive Agents - therapeutic use; cardiology/cardiovascular; Cardiovascular Diseases - drug therapy; comparative effectiveness research; Drug Combinations; Health Care Costs; Hospitalization; Humans; real-world evidence; Retrospective Studies; comparative effectiveness research; cardiology/cardiovascular; real-world evidence
• ISSN: 2042-6305; 2042-6313
• DOI: 10.2217/cer-2021-0197

This study assessed whether a single pill combination (SPC) is associated with lower direct healthcare costs. Anonymized claims data of patients ≥18 years treated with drugs for cardiovascular (CV)-related diseases either as a single pill combination or multi-pill combination (follow-up to 1 year) were evaluated. After propensity score matching, 59,336 out of 1,369,840 patients were analyzed. In all cohorts, patients receiving a single pill combination had a lower frequency of general practitioner and specialist visits. The patients also had a significantly lower ratio of all-cause hospitalization days and number of CV-related prescriptions as well as all-cause prescriptions (with one exception) compared with those receiving a multi-pill combination. Direct CV-related costs were significantly lower in four out of seven comparisons, with a trend toward lower costs in the other three comparisons.