Cost-Benefit Analysis Set for Advate, Hemophilia A Treatment

Prime Therapeutics and Takeda will work together to establish the value of Advate, relative to its costs and benefits, as a treatment for hemophilia A.

According to Prime, work comparing factors like total health care costs and emergency hospital visits allow the company to better evaluate and distinguish treatments may provide the best outcomes at competitive prices.

“Our work since pioneering such contracts over a decade ago has been targeted and intentional — and this agreement with Takeda is no different,” Kelly McGrail-Pokuta, vice president of trade relations and strategy, and chief trade relations officer at Prime, a medical claims processing company that also manages healthcare plans for its U.S. clients, said in a press release.

“Members with hemophilia need treatments that work for them at a reasonable price, and that’s exactly what drives this collaboration,” McGrail-Pokuta added.

Hemophilia A is caused by missing or defective factor VIII (FVIII), a protein that plays an integral role in blood clotting.

Advate is a recombinant (lab-made) form of this protein. The medication, which is administered by injection, is approved to control and prevent bleedings, as routine preventive therapy, and to manage bleedings around the time of surgery in adults and children with hemophilia A. Advate was developed by Shire, now part of Takeda, and first approved in the U.S. in 2003.

More treatments for hemophilia have become available in recent years, but Prime noted in its release that newer therapies can be costly. As such, it is important for healthcare companies to understand their relative costs and benefits.

Under the agreement, Prime and Takeda will evaluate clinical outcomes relative to cost for an established hemophilia A treatment. The companies will also develop a health plan remuneration model to better understand the costs associated with unsuccessful treatment, based on certain measurable medical price structures.

“Takeda has a rich heritage of serving patients and providing innovative medicines to those who need them. This agreement with Prime will help us continue to deliver on our promise to provide critically important treatments with personalized care approaches to fit each patient’s needs, and to demonstrate the treatment’s overall value,” said Richard Ascroft, Takeda’s senior vice president of managed markets and patient services.