Findings from Medtronic Provides New Data about Life Science Research (Implantable cardioverter defibrillator therapy is cost effective for primary prevention patients in Taiwan: An analysis from the Improve SCA trial)

2020 DEC 01 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health & Medicine Business Daily -- Fresh data on Life Science Research are presented in a new report. According to news originating from Dublin, Ireland, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs) for primary prevention (PP) of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) are well-established but underutilized globally. The Improve SCA study has identified a cohort of patients called 1.5 primary prevention (1.5PP) based on PP patients with the presence of certain risk factors.”

Financial support for this research came from Medtronic.

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Medtronic, “We evaluated the cost-effectiveness of ICD therapy compared to no ICD among the PP population and the subset of 1.5PP patients in Taiwan. A Markov model was run over a lifetime time horizon from the Taiwan payer perspective. Mortality and utility estimates were obtained from the literature (PP) and the IMPROVE SCA trial (1.5PP). Cost inputs were obtained from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA), Ministry of Health and Welfare. We used a willingness-to-pay (WTP) threshold of NT$2,100,000, as established through standard WTP research methods and in alignment with World Health Organization recommendations. The total discounted costs for ICD therapy and no ICD therapy were NT$1,664,259 and NT$646,396 respectively for PP, while they were NT$2,410,603 and NT$905,881 respectively for 1.5PP. Total discounted QALYs for ICD therapy and no ICD therapy were 6.48 and 4.98 respectively for PP, while they were 10.78 and 7.71 respectively for 1.5PP. The incremental cost effectiveness ratio was NT$708,711 for PP and NT$441,153 for 1.5PP, therefore ICD therapy should be considered cost effective for PP and highly cost effective for 1.5PP.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “ICD therapy compared to no ICD therapy is cost-effective in the whole PP population and highly cost-effective in the subset 1.5PP population in Taiwan.”

For more information on this research see: Implantable cardioverter defibrillator therapy is cost effective for primary prevention patients in Taiwan: An analysis from the Improve SCA trial. Plos One, 2020;15(11). (Public Library of Science - www.plos.org; Plos One - www.plosone.org)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from Lucas Higuera, Medtronic PLC, Dublin, Ireland. Additional authors for this research include Reece Holbrook, Kael Wherry, Dave Phay, Yu-Cheng Hsieh, Kuo-Hung Lin and Yen-Bin Liu.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0241697. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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