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Assessment of the economic value of the INTERCEPT blood system in Belgium
Author(s) -
Moeremans K.,
Warie H.,
Annemans L.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
transfusion medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.471
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1365-3148
pISSN - 0958-7578
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3148.2006.00644.x
Subject(s) - life expectancy , medicine , transfusion medicine , quality adjusted life year , blood transfusion , disease , cost effectiveness , risk analysis (engineering) , immunology , environmental health , population
summary . Emerging pathogens continue to threaten blood safety, requiring novel safety approaches. INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets (IBSP) inactivates pathogens, aiming at eliminating the risk of transmitting current and emerging pathogens. The objective was to evaluate the incremental cost‐effectiveness ratio (ICER) for IBSP in Belgium. A decision model comparing a ‘world with IBSP’ to a ‘world without IBSP’ calculates lifetime costs and ‘quality adjusted life years’ (QALYs) following platelet transfusion in different indications. Disease‐specific life expectancy and consequences of transfusion‐transmitted infections were obtained from literature. Transfusion safety and costs were obtained from official sources. Hepatitis C virus‐like emerging pathogen was simulated. A wide range of ICERs was observed, highly sensitive to the risk of emerging pathogen trans‐ mission, underlying disease and age. In the most conservative approach, ICER ranged from 3,459,201€/QALY in absence of emerging pathogen to 195,364€/QALY. The mean threshold of emerging infection risk for IBSP dominance (saving money and producing health gains) ranged from 1/1,079 to 1/2,858 transfusions. Considering the high value authorities appear to place on preventing accidental injury, and ICER of recent implementations in transfusion medicine (NAT: up to €2·3 million per lifeyear), IBSP can be considered cost‐effective, taking into account the potential risk of emerging pathogens.