The disease-modifying therapy utilisation and cost trend for multiple sclerosis in Australia between 2013 and 2022

Abstract

Background: The MS disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) prescribing landscape in Australia have changed over time. Objectives: This study evaluated the utilisation and cost trends of MS-related DMTs in Australia over 10 years and investigated differences between States/Territories. Methods: The prescription and costs of 16 DMTs were extracted from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme for 2013–2022. Descriptive approaches analysed the total number of people prescribed DMTs and total DMT costs per 10,000 population, proportions of prescriptions/costs by DMT groups and the number of people prescribed each individual DMT and costs of each DMT over the 10-year period. All estimates were for Australia and each State/Territory individually. Results: The number of people prescribed DMT and costs per 10,000 population had substantial growth between 2013 and 2022: 125%/164% for Australia, and 94%–251%/129%–373% for individual States/Territories. Higher efficacy group accounted for 54% of total people prescribed DMTs in 2013 and 75% in 2022. Fingolimod was the most popular DMT until 2020, then was dominated by ocrelizumab. The trends of individual DMT prescriptions and costs differed between states particularly in Western Australia (WA), Tasmania and Northern Territory (NT). Conclusion: DMT prescriptions and costs continuously increased over the last decade, particularly for higher efficacy DMTs, and their trends differed between States/Territories.

Utilization of Ocrelizumab within Different Treatment Strategies for Multiple Sclerosis: A 5-Year Population-Based Study

“…As such, the increasing utilization of ocrelizumab possibly reflects unmet needs in MS, especially in the case of progressive aspects [13,14]. This prescription pattern is in line with that found in studies conducted within the same time frame in the US [15] and Australia [16].…”

“…The limitations of our study include the generalizability of our results, since we only included patients from a specific Italian region. However, our cohort had a similar distribution (e.g., age, DMT use) to that in other international studies [16,21,22,34] and, hence, may reflect the general MS population treated with ocrelizumab. Our study also holds limitations derived from the use of routinely collected healthcare data, including the definition of MS-related hospital admission based on the primary diagnosis, which could be biased by physicians' perspectives, as well as the definition of adherence based on DMT infusion or refill, which could be biased by the fact that oral and injectable DMTs are collected but not actually taken.…”

Successful switch to ofatumumab after liver injury associated with ocrelizumab treatment in multiple sclerosis: a case report

“…Anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies (mAb) are increasingly used for the treatment of MS ( 5 ). The humanized mAb ocrelizumab, approved in 2017–2018 by the FDA and European Medicines Agency (EMA) for the treatment of relapsing MS and primary progressive MS ( 6 ), has been rarely associated with alterations of the hepatic profile.…”