Cost-effectiveness of Oral Iron Chelation in Patients with Thalassemia Major: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Thalassemia major, as a red blood cell disorder that is passed from both parents to their children, requires high costs and the use of iron chelation drugs throughout the patient's life. Pharmacoeconomics studies in patients with thalassemia major needs to be conducted to determine the efficiency and effectiveness of selecting oral iron chelation drugs. This study aims to analyze the cost and cost-effectiveness of using oral iron chelation drugs such as deferasirox and deferiprone. This systematic review was conducted from Pubmed and Scopus, to identify the cost-effectiveness of deferasirox and deferiprone. Eight studies met the inclusion criteria for the review. farthermor selected the papers, extracted the data, and assessed the methodological quality of the included documents. In brief, deferasirox is cost-effective than deferiprone. Moreover, the cost-effectiveness is not an absolute issue when in different countries (regions) the results are opposite for other countries (regions). As a result, the local/national context had a substantial influence on the results of the pharmacoeconomic evaluation. From the average cost-effectiveness ratio, it can be concluded that deferasirox is more cost-effective than deferiprone.