title: [Economic evaluation of bevacizumab versus ranibizumab in neovascular age-related macular degeneration].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of bevacizumab versus ranibizumab for patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in China.
  
  
  METHODS
  A Markov model was constructed to compare cost per quality-adjusted life year of bevacizumab with ranibizumab in patients with neovascular AMD. In the Markov model, with cycle length of 3 months and time horizon of 10 years, three health states were defined by visual acuity. One way deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were conducted to explore the uncertainties from a number of variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the base case analysis, patients in ranibizumab group obtained 0.007 QALY more than patients in bevacizumab group, while the average total cost was ¥794 400 higher. The ICUR reached ¥109.23 million per QALY. In all sensitivity analyses, the ICURs were over ¥ 2.48 million per QALY between ranibizumab and bevacizumab groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Ranibizumab for neovascular AMD patients gained similar QALY at significantly higher costs in comparison with bevacizumab. The ICURs generated in this study were much higher than the possible QALY threshold in the society of China. Compared with ranibizumab, bevacizumab was cost-effective for neovascular AMD patients.
authors.affiliation: School of International Pharmaceutical Business, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 211198, China.
authors.forename: Hongchao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Email: li.hongchao@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Xiaoxin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Xie
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D020533:Angiogenesis Inhibitors / Q000191:economics* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized / Q000191:economics* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000068258:Bevacizumab; D002681:China; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D006801:Humans; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008390:Markov Chains; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years; D000069579:Ranibizumab; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014792:Visual Acuity
chemical_list: D020533:Angiogenesis Inhibitors; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; D000068258:Bevacizumab; D000069579:Ranibizumab