OBJECTIVES: To study the association between initiation of first branded adjunctive therapy with eslicarbazepine acetate (ESL) vs. brivaracetam (BRV) on healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) and charges among patients with treated focal seizures (FS).

METHODS: This retrospective longitudinal analysis used Symphony Health’s Integrated Dataverse (IDV^®) claims data (4/1/2015−6/30/2018). Two cohorts were identified as first branded adjunctive therapy with ESL or BRV following a generic antiseizure drug (ASD). Index date was the earliest claim for a new prescription of ESL or BRV. Inclusion criteria were: only 1 generic ASD in the 12 months prior to index date; ≥1 medical claim with a FS diagnosis; ≥1 medical and pharmacy claim in the 90 days prior to and after index date; aged ≥4 years on index date. Unit of analysis was the 90-day person-time-block. Baseline was the 90-day block preceding index date. Patients had up to four 90-day blocks following index date. Inverse probability treatment weighted linear regression models with person fixed effects assessed relative changes in all-cause and FS-related HCRU and charges. Bias-corrected bootstrap confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated for charge outcomes.

RESULTS: 208 and 137 patients initiated first branded adjunctive therapy with ESL (43.7 years, 51.9% female) or BRV (39.3 years, 51.8% female). Patients in the ESL cohort had numerically larger reductions in all-cause and FS-related inpatient hospitalizations and outpatient visits and FS-related emergency department visits. Compared to patients initiating BRV, patients treated with ESL, had larger reductions in total charges (­-$3,446, CI: -$13,716−-$425), all-cause (-$3,166, CI: -$13,991−-$323) and FS-related (-$2,969, CI: -$21,547−-$842) medical charges, all-cause (-$3,397, CI: -$15,676−-$818) and FS-related (-$2,863, CI: -$19,707−-$787) outpatient charges, and non-ASD-related prescription charges (-$420, CI: -$1,058−-$78).

CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with FS, initiation of first branded adjunctive therapy with ESL was associated with significantly larger reductions in medical and non-ASD-related prescriptions charges compared to BRV.