Ziconotide for the Management of Cancer Pain: A Budget Impact Analysis.

OBJECTIVES: Recent recommendations on starting dose, smaller dose increments, and longer intervals between dose increase have the potential to increase the safety of ziconotide administration in addition to improving its value for money. Ziconotide is not routinely commissioned in England, with one of the concerns being whether it represents the best use of resources. The aim of this project is to conduct a budget impact analysis to estimate the costs or savings associated with the changes in ziconotide dosage in addition to its use in combination with morphine for the management of cancer pain.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: An open, Markov-like cohort decision analytic model was developed to estimate the budget impact of ziconotide in combination with morphine (ziconotide combination therapy) vs morphine monotherapy through intrathecal drug delivery (ITDD) for the management of cancer pain. The perspective adopted was that of the UK National Health Service, with a five-year time horizon. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to evaluate different scenarios.

RESULTS: Ziconotide combination therapy was more expensive than treatment with morphine monotherapy. The total costs of ziconotide combination therapy and morphine monotherapy for the first year were £395,748 and £136,628 respectively. The estimated five-year cumulative budget impact of treatment with ziconotide combination therapy for the five-year time horizon was £2,487,539, whereas that of morphine monotherapy was £913,804. The additional costs in any of the first five years are below the resource impact significance level of £1 million for medical technologies in England.

CONCLUSIONS: The results of this budget impact analysis suggest that although a combination of intrathecal ziconotide in combination with morphine is associated with higher costs to the health care system in England, the incremental costs are not significant. Routine commissioning of ziconotide alone or in combination with morphine would provide an alternative for a population with limited ITDD treatment options.