Impact of China's Low Centralized Medicine Procurement Prices on the Cost-Effectiveness of Statins for the Primary Prevention of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract

Background: Statin medications reduce the risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). China's new central government medicine procurement policy lowered statin prices by five-fold or more, which may impact the cost-effectiveness of statin therapy.

Objective: To explore the impact of China's 2019 centralized medicine procurement policy on the cost-effectiveness of statins treatment for primary ASCVD prevention.

Methods: A microsimulation decision tree analytic model was built using individual participant data from ASCVD-free adults aged 35-64 years (n = 21,265) in the China Multi-provincial Cohort Study. ASCVD incidence, costs (2019 Int$), and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) over a 10-year period from health-care sector and societal perspectives were estimated. Effect and cost-effectiveness of low-dose statins (equivalent potency regimens of simvastatin 20 mg/day, atorvastatin 10 mg/day, or rosuvastatin 5 mg/day) and moderate-dose (double low dose) statins therapy were simulated. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of statin treatment was compared with no treatment by category of 10-year ASCVD risk. New lower prices of statins were from the centralized procurement policy bid-winning announcement file. One-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses quantified model uncertainty.

Results: Low-dose statins interventions reduced 10-year ASCVD incidence by 4.1%, 9.7%, and 15.5% among people with low, moderate, and high risk comparing to no treatment. Lowering statin prices to the 2019 central government procurement policy level could lower the ICER of low-dose statins treatment for high-risk people from Int$ 141,000 to Int$ 51,300 per QALY gained from health-care sector perspective. Moderate-dose statin treatment lowered the ICER compared with the low-dose statins treatment in each ASCVD risk category (Int$ 43,100 vs. Int$ 51,300 per QALY gained from the health-care sector perspective for high risk people). Cost-effectiveness improved progressively with increased baseline ASCVD risk.

Conclusion: Implementing low central government prices will substantially improve the cost-effectiveness of statins for primary ASCVD prevention in 35-64-year-old Chinese adults.

Keywords: cardiovascular disease; cost-effectiveness; low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; microsimulation; primary prevention; statins.