The COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented burden on healthcare systems worldwide. At the annual meeting of the Nordic Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (NSCMID), Quantify Research own Martina Aldvén and Marcelina Kądziela in collaboration with Pfizer presented a poster on the cost-effectiveness of nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (NV/r) compared to no anti-viral treatment in Swedish adults who are at increased risk for progression to severe COVID-19.
Cost-effectiveness was assessed by varying the relative reduction of hospitalization and death and the underlying absolute risk of hospitalization. Varying absolute risks of hospitalization were applied to reflect patient groups at different risk levels in the real-world clinical setting.
This study found that use of NV/r is likely to be cost-effective compared to no anti-viral treatment, given the prevailing willingness-to-pay thresholds in Sweden for moderate to severe health conditions. Only in patient groups with very low (~1%) absolute risk of hospitalization, NV/r may not be cost-effective.
