OBJECTIVES: To investigate the budgetary impact from the introduction of a new combination of ezetimibe and atorvastatin (EZE/ATOR_CH [Cholzet]), as adjunct to diet for treatment in primary hypercholesterolaemia in patients who are not appropriately controlled with a statin alone or in whom a statin is considered inappropriate or is not tolerated.

METHODS: A budget impact model was developed from a public payer perspective, to delineate the financial implications of ΕΖΕ/ΑΤΟR_CH inclusion in the Greek healthcare market comparing a current (world without ΕΖΕ/ΑΤΟR_CH) with a future scenario (world with ΕΖΕ/ΑΤΟR_CH), over the next 5 years. The analysis compares all fixed-dose combination of ΕΖΕ/ΑΤΟR reimbursed in Greece and pharma’s projection estimates were used for building up the market shares of the analyses. Epidemiological data from published literature and market’s sales were used to estimate the number of eligible patients. Costs related to drug acquisition and adverse events were considered in the analysis and were retrieved from the latest medicines’ reimbursement list, issued by the Greek Ministry of Health and published literature (€,2022). Τhe measured outcomes were incremental cost and total budget impact, calculated by comparing the respective budget expenditures with and without ΕΖΕ/ΑΤΟR_CH in the market share mix scenarios.

RESULTS: The total number of patients treated with EZE/ATOR was 74,131 (year 1 of analysis) and the number of patients who received ΕΖΕ/ΑΤΟR_CH was 8,011, 11,065, 12,704, 13,319 and 14,385 from year 1 to 5, respectively. The analysis showed that adding ΕΖΕ/ΑΤΟR_CH to the market resulted to an average (annually) budget savings of 2,429,206€. Over the 5-year time horizon, adding ΕΖΕ/ΑΤΟR_CH to the market resulted in considerable cost-savings with a total budget impact of -12,146,032€.

CONCLUSIONS: The analysis suggests that the introduction of ΕΖΕ/ΑΤΟR_CH in the Greek market is expected to bring significant economic benefit for the Greek public payer.