Cost-effectiveness of almotriptan and rizatriptan in the treatment of acute migraine.

BACKGROUND: Migraine is a common disorder that costs US employers billions of dollars each year in missed workdays and reduced productivity. Seven triptans, including almotriptan and rizatriptan, are recommended as first-line therapy for acute migraine.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess the relative cost-effectiveness of almotriptan and rizatriptan in the treatment of acute migraine.

METHODS: A model was built to compare almotriptan 12.5 mg and rizatriptan 10 mg for the treatment of a single, acute migraine attack. Cost-effectiveness (in year-1999 US dollars) was evaluated from the perspective of a US health care payer. Mean and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (CERs) were calculated. The effectiveness measure was the proportion of patients who achieved sustained freedom from pain with no adverse events (SNAE). Data on sustained pain-free outcomes and adverse-event rates were obtained from a meta-analysis of oral triptan trials. Efficacy and tolerability were assumed to be independent in the base-case scenario, so the total direct cost of treating a single migraine attack was calculated, adding drug costs to health service costs per attack.

RESULTS: In the base-case analysis, the mean CERs for almotriptan 12.5 mg and rizatriptan 10 mg were 91.12 dollars and 131.26 dollars, respectively, per attack at which SNAE was achieved after treatment. The incremental CER for almotriptan (compared with rizatriptan 10 mg) was 6.94 dollars per additional SNAE achieved. The economic benefit of almotriptan 12.5 mg was robust in a range of sensitivity analyses.

CONCLUSION: Almotriptan 12.5 mg was more cost-effective than rizatriptan 10 mg for the treatment of acute migraine in this analysis based on published data.