Objective: To assess the economic impact associated with overactive bladder (OAB) patients, treated with mirabegron or antimuscarinics (AM) in Spain, over a 12-month period.
Methods: A probabilistic model (second-order Monte Carlo simulation) was used in a hypothetical cohort of 1000 patients with OAB and a time horizon of 12 months. The use of resources was obtained from the retrospective observational study MIRACAT that included 3330 patients with OAB. The analysis was carried out from the perspective of the National Health System (NHS) including that of society with the indirect cost of abseenteism in a sensitivity analysis. Unit costs were obtained from Spanish public healthcare prices (€ 2021) and from previously published Spanish studies.
Results: The annual average savings for the NHS for each patient with OAB treated with mirabegron would be € 1135 (95%confidence interval (CI) € 390; 2421) compared with a patient treated with AM. Annual average savings were maintained in all the sensitivity analyses carried out, ranging from a minimum of € 299 to a maximum of € 3381 per patient. The substitution of 25% of the AM treatments (for 81534 patients) to mirabegron would generate, within 1 year, savings for the NHS of € 92 million (95% CI € 31; 197 million).
Conclusions: According to the present model, the treatment of OAB with mirabegron would generate savings compared with treatment with AM in all scenarios and sensitivity analysis performed, and for the NHS and for society perspectives.
Keywords: antimuscarinics; costs; mirabegron; overactive bladder.