Early health technology assessments in pharmacogenomics: a case example in cardiovascular drugs

Abstract

AIM: To assess the required characteristics (cost, sensitivity and specificity) of a pharmacogenomic test for being a cost-effective prevention of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors induced angioedema. Furthermore, we assessed the influence of only testing high-risk populations. MATERIALS & METHODS: A decision tree was used. RESULTS: With a willingness-to-pay threshold of €20,000 and €80,000 per quality adjusted life year, a 100% sensitive and specific test may have a maximum cost of €1.30 and €1.95, respectively. When only genotyping high-risk populations, the maximum test price would be €5.03 and €7.55, respectively. CONCLUSION: This theoretical pharmacogenomic test is only cost-effective at high specificity, high sensitivity and a low price. Only testing high-risk populations yields more realistic maximum test prices for cost-effectiveness of the intervention.