Medicus Economics, LLC

✨ Very proud of our collaboration with the Foundation for Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics for this important research.   📊 Caring for loved ones with AS can introduce significant economic costs for families. This manuscript in Orphanet Journal of Rare Disease is one of the first to quantify these impacts in the United States.   👏 Congrats to our Medicus Economics, LLC experts: John Jarvis, Elizabeth Chertavian, Marric Buessing, Taylor Renteria, and Lufei Tu

🎉 Exciting news! The Medicus Economics, LLC team is gearing up for AMCP 2025 in Houston, TX on March 31-April 3! 🤝 We're looking forward to connecting with industry leaders and exploring how we can support your economic modeling, data analytics, and access strategy needs. ✨ If you're attending, let's connect! Helene Parise, Samantha Clark, and Zach Marcum will be in attendance and would love to discuss how we can collaborate. Drop us a message! 🤠 See you in Texas! #HEOR #BioPharma #RealWorldEvidence

📣 New manuscript published from the Medicus Economics, LLC team! 📊 Brain metastases (BM) are common in ALK+ metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (mNSCLC), yet real-world data on their burden is limited. In a newly published study in Lung Cancer, Medicus authors Matthew Davis and Zach Marcum, along with colleagues from Pfizer, used 100% Medicare fee-for-service and Medicare Advantage data to estimate the cumulative incidence of BM in patients with ALK + mNSCLC treated with second-generation ALK tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) as first-line (1L) targeted therapies and assess the association between BM and mortality. 📍 THE MAIN POINT: In 1040 patients, 28% had baseline BM. In 751 patients without baseline BM, the cumulative incidence of BM was 20% after 5 years. Patients with new BM had 2.6x higher mortality risk than those without. Older adults (85+) and non-White patients had the highest BM incidence. 💡 WHY THIS MATTERS: Patients with ALK+ mNSCLC treated with second-generation ALK TKIs as 1L targeted therapies faced a high burden of BM. Efforts are needed to provide safe and efficacious approaches to prevention and treatment of BM, including additional monitoring as required, in patients with ALK+ mNSCLC. 📖 Check out the manuscript here: https://lnkd.in/gFG5ZNVf

📣 New manuscript published from the Medicus Economics, LLC team! 📑 Aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase deficiency (AADCd) is an ultra-rare genetic disorder characterized by movement disorders, motor and autonomic dysfunction, and developmental delays. Eladocagene exuparvovec-tneq (KEBILIDI), approved for treatment of AADCd by the US FDA in November 2024, has demonstrated long-term improvement in motor function in clinical studies that enrolled N=30 patients without head control at baseline. The primary endpoint in two of the studies was a five-level classification of motor milestones (no motor function, full head control, sitting unassisted, standing with support, and walking with assistance), based on 5 items of a 241-item modified version of the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales-Second Edition (PDMS-2) collected in the studies. The endpoint was selected based on feedback from the FDA and EMA, concerning uncertainty in the meaningful score difference (MSD - aka minimal clinically important difference [MCID]) of the Total PDMS-2 score in AADCd. 📊 In a recent Orphanet publication, Medicus Economics, LLC colleagues Jon Woolley, Marjorie Crowell, and Thomas O'Connell worked with co-authors and PTC Therapeutics to estimate the MSD of the Total PDMS-2 score in AADCd, applying anchor-based methods as recommended in current US FDA guidance on incorporating clinical outcome assessments (COAs) into endpoints for regulatory decision-making.  📍 THE MAIN POINTS: Anchoring against the five-level motor-milestone classification suggested to be clinically meaningful by FDA and EMA communications, the difference in mean Total PDMS-2 scores between levels was ~45 points. Further, receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis reflected that a 40-point improvement in Total PDMS-2 score had specificity >0.95 for prediction of motor-milestone improvement, suggesting it may be a conservative estimate of the MSD. Cumulative incidence analyses of achievement of the 40-point MSD vs. of the full head control milestone reflected that the MSD may allow greater responsiveness and earlier detection of change, by capturing a broad range of both gross and fine motor domains. 💡 WHY THIS MATTERS: This research illustrates methods that may help characterize evidence from novel endpoints collected in clinical studies of treatments for ultra-rare diseases. 📖 Check out the manuscript here: https://lnkd.in/gvaKXSeN

🗣️ An oral presentation later today at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting will describe research co-conducted by Eric Zuk, Helene Parise, and Matthew Davis on travel burden and costs for patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) receiving treat-to-progression or fixed-duration bispecific antibody therapy. 💡Several bispecifics are now approved for the treatment of NHL; however, differences in dosing schedules could impose substantial time toxicity for patients to adhere to therapy. Using 100% Medicare fee-for-service claims, the team quantified travel distance and time related to bispecific administration for patients with NHL. An economic model was then developed to estimate total travel costs associated with treatment administration over a 1-year time horizon. ✨ THE MAIN POINT: Travel burden and costs can be considerable for patients with NHL to adhere to bispecific treatment regimens, and increase substantially for therapies requiring more frequent dosing. Novel treatments with more convenient dosing schedules and/or administration sites could result in substantial cost savings for patients. 📉 Travel burden of adhering to treatment can cost patients thousands of dollars annually but is often an overlooked factor in treatment and reimbursement decisions. Further research should examine changes in care delivery or support services to alleviate this added cost to patients. 📨 Please contact Medicus Economics, LLC if you’re interested in learning more about how real-world data can be used to characterize heterogeneity in the travel burden of adhering to different treatment options.

📣 New manuscript published from the Medicus Economics, LLC team! 📊 On October 13, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ended its policy for β-Amyloid (Aβ) positron emission tomography (PET) under coverage with evidence development, permitting coverage determinations to be made by Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs). In a newly published JAMA Neurology Research Letter, Medicus authors Zach Marcum and Dominic Nunag, along with colleagues Adam Bress and Jeremy Pruzin, used 100% Medicare fee-for-service data to assess variation in Aβ PET utilization among Medicare beneficiaries with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia by MAC Part A and B regions after the policy change.   📍 THE MAIN POINT: From October through December 2023, the adjusted prevalence of Aβ PET among beneficiaries with MCI or dementia varied 25-fold across MAC regions. From January through March 2024, the adjusted prevalence of Aβ PET among beneficiaries with MCI or dementia varied nearly 20-fold across MAC regions. 💡 WHY THIS MATTERS: Despite the goal of CMS that MAC regions would provide consistent coverage for Aβ PET, this study found that sizable variation existed across regions in coverage determinations following the policy change. Access to Aβ PET has important implications for guiding treatment of monoclonal antibodies for Alzheimer disease. Uneven access to imaging has the potential to widen existing disparities to treatment and outcomes for Alzheimer disease. 📖 Check out the manuscript here: https://lnkd.in/gtXnpKh5 📨 Please contact Medicus Economics, LLC if you’re interested in learning more about our use of 100% Medicare data to evaluate diagnostic testing and treatments in the quickly evolving field of ADRD.

📣 New manuscript published from the Medicus Economics, LLC team! 📊 With the recent FDA approval of resmetirom, the first pharmacologic specifically approved for the treatment of adult patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) with moderate to severe fibrosis, comprehensive evidence is needed on how halting or slowing progression to more severe liver disease will impact healthcare spending. In a recently published study, Medicus authors Matthew Davis and Dominic Nunag used 100% Medicare fee-for-service data to evaluate costs and healthcare resource utilization associated with NASH progression.   📍 THE MAIN POINT: Progression from NASH to more advanced liver disease was associated with substantial increases in healthcare spending that scaled with disease severity. Patients progressing from non-cirrhotic NASH or NASH with compensated cirrhosis had 3x and 6x higher odds of inpatient hospitalization and 3x and 4x higher odds of being in the top 20% of high spenders, respectively. Slower disease progression correlated with lower cost trajectories, suggesting considerable potential benefits of interventions to delay, let alone halt, NASH progression. 💡 WHY THIS MATTERS: As NASH prevalence continues to rise, these findings provide evidence on the benefits to payers of supporting treatments with the potential to slow or avoid progression to more advanced liver disease states. 📖 Check out the manuscript here: https://lnkd.in/g6icTyUs

🫀 Earlier today at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in Chicago, Andrew Epstein and friend of Medicus Economics, LLC Saif S. Rathore shared the results of a comprehensive patient-level projection of GLP-1 therapy use on coronary stent use in the Medicare population. 💡In contrast to published reports of minimal impact, this modeling exercise conducted a patient-level analysis of CV risk in the Medicare population, assessed varying levels of GLP-1 usage, and accounted for variations in adoption patterns. ✨ THE MAIN POINT: If GLP-1 therapy becomes as widely used as statin therapy, coronary stent use will decrease nationally by at least 7% and as much as 22% (depending on the CV risk profile of GLP-1 users), resulting in a $600M to $2B reduction in the global $9B coronary stent market. Some hospital markets could see reductions of more than 30%. 📉 Our independent analysis makes clear that GLP-1 therapy has the potential to meaningfully transform cardiovascular procedure use, which will affect physicians, payers, and manufacturers. 📨 Please contact Medicus Economics, LLC if you’re interested in learning more about our distinctive data-driven approach to evaluating the impact of GLP-1 therapy on cardiovascular and other medical devices.

✨ A friendly reminder to check out our presentation at this weekend's American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in Chicago - Saturday, November 16 @ 930am, led by Andrew Epstein and Saif S. Rathore ✨

🫀 If you are attending the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in Chicago next weekend, please plan to stop by the Medicus Economics, LLC presentation – “Projected impact of GLP-1 adoption on 5-year coronary stent use among Medicare beneficiaries with cardiovascular disease” – Saturday, November 16 at 930am. Andrew Epstein and friend of Medicus Saif S. Rathore will present the results of our projections for impact of GLP-1 therapy on future coronary stent use. 💡 In short, should GLP-1 therapy become a mainstay of cardiovascular therapy akin to statin therapy, GLP-1 therapy could reduce anywhere from $600+ M to more than $2B in usage from the $9B annual global coronary stent market. Scenarios vary in impact, but GLP-1 therapy may be as transformational for coronary stent use as the COURAGE trial in the 2000s. 🤝 Please stop by to learn more about our distinctive patient-level CV risk stratification and its ability to help manufacturers and providers begin to plan for potential GLP-1 impact scenarios.