ABSTRACT
Objectives: Biologic therapy is commonly used to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but represents a significant cost in patient care. This pilot study analyzes the pharmacoeconomic benefit of utilizing a prescription oral medical food, serum-derived bovine immunoglobulin/protein isolate (SBI), for the management of IBD.
Study Design: Chart data from IBD patients who were administered SBI as part of an ongoing therapy (N = 21) were retrospectively collected from a gastrointestinal clinic.
Methods: Data regarding the management of IBD for the first 8 weeks in which patients used SBI were assessed and compared with the patients’ history of current and past use of biologics. Literature-reported prices for biologics and SBI were applied to these data, and the potential total costs savings per patient over the 8 weeks of analysis were calculated.
Results: Seven patients had a history of primary or secondary nonresponsiveness to biologics and inadequate management with current therapeutic regimens, suggesting that they would likely have to begin another biologic therapy due to disease severity. Incorporation of SBI at 5 g/day resulted in better overall management of their disease, alleviating the cost of impending biologic therapy. The difference between patients’ prior average 8-week biologic cost and the 8-week SBI cost equated to $5077 per nonresponder. This equated to $1692 per patient in the entire cohort.
Conclusions: Incorporation of SBI into the therapeutic regimen of this small cohort of IBD patients potentially correlates to a significant yearly savings, providing preliminary evidence for SBI as a cost-saving nutritive therapy to help manage IBD.