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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Drugs Outcomes Research and Policies
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1546018

Cost-effectiveness analysis of enzyme replacement therapy for the treatment of Chinese patients with fabry disease: a Markov model

Provisionally accepted
  • Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Fabry disease (FD) is an X-chromosome-linked genetic disorder.Currently, the main treatments for FD include disease-nonspecific and disease-specific treatments. Nonspecific treatment involves symptomatic management of organ involvement. On the other hand, disease-specific treatment is to regulate the activity of the corresponding enzymes, which is targeted. Among them, enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) is a classical therapy. Several studies have demonstrated the significant ameliorative effect of agalactosidase-α (ALTA-a) on cardiac and renal function in patients with FD. Despite the excellent clinical performance, there are limited pharmacoeconomic studies on ERT for FD worldwide.The aim of this study was to analyze the cost-effectiveness of ERT for FD in China from the perspective of the healthcare system.We constructed a five-state Markov model based on the disease characteristics of FD. The modeling period was 1 month. The time horizon was 3 years.The willingness-to-pay threshold was chosen as 1-3 times the gross national product (GDP) per capita. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was calculated from the base case analysis, and one-way sensitivity analysis and probabilistic sensitivity analysis were performed.The ICER value is ¥148071.95/QALY, which is between 1-3 times GDP per capita. The sensitivity analysis showed that the cost of ALTA-a had a significant effect on ICER and proved the stability of the results.ERT therapy is a cost-effective program compared to "No ERT" therapy.

    Keywords: Fabry Disease, Enzyme Replacement Therapy, agalactosidase-α, Markov model, incremental cost-effectiveness ratio, sensitivity analysis

    Received: 16 Dec 2024; Accepted: 07 Feb 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Huang and Huang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Zhe Huang, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.