People with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) who do not receive treatment face much higher medical costs than those who are treated, according to a recent study published in Advances in Therapy.
The study reviewed medical records from 2016 to 2022. It found that people with PBC who went without treatment needed more hospital care, stayed in the hospital longer and had far higher hospital-related costs — about $37,974 per person each year. In comparison, costs for people who received treatment were much lower: Those taking the first-line therapy ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) had about $5,854 in yearly hospital-related costs.
Those who were untreated spent an average of 7.45 days in the hospital each year; in comparison, those taking UDCA spent 1.12 days in the hospital.
The study also found that although treatment helped lower overall healthcare costs, expenses still rose when PBC became more advanced and patients needed more intensive care. For example, patients taking UDCA had more outpatient visits as PBC progressed.
“This study emphasizes the importance of timely treatment for PBC to reduce healthcare resource use and medical costs and reveals the need for safer and more effective PBC treatments that can improve patient outcomes,” the researchers said.
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While patients receiving first-line and second-line therapies had lower hospital-related costs than untreated patients, they incurred pharmaceutical costs that the untreated patients naturally did not. The researchers found that people in the second-line group had the highest pharmacy costs; however, the data for this study was collected when obeticholic acid (OCA) was the only FDA-approved second-line treatment for PBC. Since then, OCA has been removed from the U.S. market, and two new medications — Elafibranor (Iqirvo) and Seladelpar (Livdelzi) — have been approved.
“Recent advances in the PBC therapeutic landscape offer the potential to reduce the economic burden of PBC,” said the study’s authors. The authors suggested that future studies examine the economic impact of these newer therapies.
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