Study: GSK's Avandia cuts health care costs

UK drug major GlaxoSmithKline says that new findings from a retrospective cohort study indicate that initial therapy with its antidiabetic Avandia (rosigltazone maleate) was associated with significantly fewer physician visits, and reduced health costs, than sulfonylurea.

GSK reported that the study, which compared medical, pharmacy and disability insurance claim data from more than 3,000 patients, indicates the use of Avandia was associated with a $300.0 per patient per month reduction in direct health care costs compared with sulfonylurea ($1,065 versus $1,315). Total medical costs were also lower for Avandia ($1,221 vs $1,512).

In addition, patients taking Avandia required fewer medical services than those treated with sulfonylurea in terms of inpatient visits per person per year (0.47 vs 0.77) and outpatient visits (17.0 vs 17.9). Multivariate analysis, taking age and gender differences into account, revealed that Avandia resulted in a cost reduction of $108.0 per patient per month.