The Potential Societal Cost Benefits Of Increasing Patient Satisfaction By Using An Inhaler With Improved Features Compared To Spiriva® Handihaler® For The Management Of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (Copd) In The Uk

Abstract

was based on the average monthly salary in the UK. A conservative assumption was made about the increased risk of a productive day being lost -associated with level of patient satisfaction to their treatment -by calculating an approximate number of unscheduled hospitalisations that users of a new inhaler would experience in the previous 12 months relative to Spiriva® HandiHaler®. Patient satisfaction with their inhaler was based on inhaler features that relate to ease of use and ergonomics and compared Spiriva® HandiHaler® to an improved inhaler. Results: The frequency of unscheduled hospitalisations for the new inhaler and Spiriva® HandiHaler® users were calculated at 0.34 and 0.38, resulting in 68 and 76 productive days lost annually, respectively. The total annual societal cost per patient was € 9,851 with the new inhaler and € 10,891 with Spiriva® HandiHaler®. The new inhaler costs € 1,040 less per annum than Spiriva® Handihaler®. ConClusions: New inhalers with improved features have the potential to offer substantial societal cost savings in COPD compared with Spiriva® Handihaler®.

Bronchodilator efficacy of 18 µg once-daily tiotropium inhalation via Discair^® versus HandiHaler^® in adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: randomized, active-controlled, parallel-group, open-label, Phase IV trial

“…A recent multinational real-world study of COPD patients identified a direct link between improved inhaler satisfaction (mainly durability, ergonomics, and ease-of-use) and increased treatment adherence 51. Hence, improved patient satisfaction with an inhaler may improve clinical and economic outcomes in patients with COPD 31,51. Notably, a recent study on the potential societal costs and benefits of improving treatment satisfaction, by use of a new tiotropium inhaler that was comparable to HandiHaler, estimated that 59% of patients preferred the new inhaler 31.…”

“…Hence, improved patient satisfaction with an inhaler may improve clinical and economic outcomes in patients with COPD 31,51. Notably, a recent study on the potential societal costs and benefits of improving treatment satisfaction, by use of a new tiotropium inhaler that was comparable to HandiHaler, estimated that 59% of patients preferred the new inhaler 31. Moreover, patients who switched to the new inhaler reported a ~32% improvement in satisfaction with treatment and a 9% increase in adherence 31…”

“…Development of new inhalers with features that make it easier for patients to deliver the same dose of tiotropium may provide substantial cost benefits for treatment of COPD 31. A previous study compared patient preference and ease of use between Diskus ® and HandiHaler ® among 60 COPD patients who were naive to these inhalers but experienced with others.…”