Costings from NICE - Warfarin v Dabig... - Atrial Fibrillati...

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Costings from NICE - Warfarin v Dabigitran

4 Replies

Hi guys and gals,

Got this info from NICE ... just copied and pasted from my email .... thought you might be interested - if it comes out that is :-)

Unit cost calculation

Drug Name Daily dose Cost1 Cost per day £ Annual cost £

Dabigatran etexilate300mg 60 tablets of 150mg £65.90 1 2.20 801.78

Dabigatran etexilate220mg 60 tablets of 150mg £65.90 1 2.20 801.78

Warfarin4.5mg 28 tablets of 0.5mg £1.76 2, 4

28 tablets of 1mg £0.88 2, 4

28 tablets of 3mg £0.85 2, 4 0.12 45.49

Aspirin162.5mg 28 tablets of 75mg £0.82 3, 4 0.09 32.07

1 Press release, Boehringer Ingelheim committed to sharing value with the NHS to improve stroke prevention,

29/03/12 accessed boehringer-ingelheim.co.uk/... to-sharing-value-with-the-NHS-to-improve-stroke-prevention.html, accessed 30/03/12.

2 NHS Electronic Drug Tariff, accessed 29th June 2012.

3 NHS Electronic Drug Tariff, accessed 29th June 2012.

4 Dose as per manufacturer's submission.

Discounts and/or VAT can be input locally on sheet 7, 'Costing template'.

Sorry didn't come out that well .... but basically, if you interrogate it ..... Dabigitran = £2.20 a day, Warfarin = £0.12p a day and Asprin = £0.09p a day.

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4 Replies
rosyG profile image
rosyG

Have you got similar figures for running clinics for monitoring Warfarin users INRs- or self testers strips - just under £3 a time? needed to compare like with like- I have been surprised at the meetings of CCG and Pharmacists who are commissioning as they think costs won't be much different in the long run as clinics won't be needed- just 6 monthly blood tests for kidney function etc.

No wonder doctors are still keen on aspirin, it's as cheap as chips! Cheaper...

hondajazz profile image
hondajazz

Can I just say that yes its clear to see that cost does come into wether the doctor prescribes Warfarin or one of the newer drugs but I would just like to add something to this debate. I enquired of my doctor last week as to why I am on warfarin , as like many of you , I hate the constant blood tests. he then went on to explain that a lot of the newer drugs which work the same as warfarin haven't been around very long and they are now finding problems occurring ,one of which frightened the life out of me, is that if you have a bleed for any reason they have a way of stopping it with warfarin by giving you vitamin K but on the newer ones they haven't come up with a way to stop you bleeding. Don't want anyone to panic but thought it was worth sharing and also asking has anyone been informed by their own doctors about this possible problem ?

MarkS profile image
MarkS

Very roughly I think the total cost will be:

Dabigatran: £801.78 p.a. as above

Warfarin: Tablets: around £40 p.a. Strips £3 p.w. = £150 p.a. Total cost £190

If blood draws are used then the cost I believe is around £20 per test, so with monthly testing (higher than average) that is £240 p.a., total cost £280.

So Warfarin is a lot cheaper even including testing. Self testing gives as good results, if not better than dabigatran as long as you stay in your right INR range at least 70% of the time.

Mark

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