Economic analysis reveals cost savings from albuterol–budesonide inhalers in adult asthma, highlighting reduced healthcare resource use.
Key Points
To assess the financial impact of adopting an as-needed albuterol–budesonide fixed-dose combination compared with albuterol alone or ICS-SABA from the perspective of the Kuwaiti healthcare payer.
Conducted a budget impact analysis over a four-year time horizon measuring direct medical costs, including medications, follow-up tests, and hospitalizations.
Evaluated a target population of 15,763 adult asthma patients, identifying 11,823 partially controlled or uncontrolled patients eligible for the intervention.
Explored model parameter uncertainty through one-way sensitivity analyses based on clinical trial inputs and literature-derived resource use.
Replacing albuterol alone with the fixed-dose combination lowered total four-year costs from KWD 14,870,455 ($82 million) to KWD 14,479,021 ($80 million), achieving total savings of KWD 391,434 ($2.1 million).
Replacing ICS/SABA with the fixed-dose combination decreased total four-year costs from KWD 9,009,634 ($50 million) to KWD 8,717,921 ($48 million), generating total savings of KWD 291,713 ($1.6 million).
Cost savings were primarily driven by lower healthcare resource utilization, with exacerbation rates and inhaler costs identified as the most sensitive parameters.