Luspatercept Brings Reduced Need for Healthcare Resources to Manage MDS Versus ESAs

In the management of lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), patients have a markedly less need to utilize healthcare resources if the disease is treated with luspatercept rather than erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs). This is the conclusion supported by the results of a first-of-its-kind, real-world database study recently published in the Journal of Medical Economics.

“Treatment with luspatercept was associated with significantly lower rates of both all-cause inpatient visits and all-cause outpatient visits, as well as lower rates of MDS-related inpatient visits, compared with treatment with ESA,” wrote first author Brian Ball, MD, of City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, California, with colleagues.

This retrospective study was conducted in the U.S. using data from the Symphony Health Integrated Dataverse, a large and nationally representative healthcare claims database. The investigators compiled claims filed by patients with lower-risk MDS who between May 1, 2020, and June 30, 2022, had initiated either luspatercept or an ESA to treat the disease.

The data for analysis were from 243 patients who received luspatercept to manage MDS and 3,515 patients who were treated with an ESA. The median age at first claim was 77 years in the luspatercept group and 78 years in the ESA group, and the median follow-up duration was 14.6 months in the luspatercept group and 14.4 months in the ESA group.

The investigators compared the two patient cohorts’ respective all-cause and MDS-related healthcare resource utilization using generalized estimating equations. They found that patients in the luspatercept group had a 26% lower rate of all-cause inpatient visits and a 31% lower rate of all-cause outpatient visits than patients in the ESA group, with adjusted incidence rate ratios (aIRRs) of 0.74 (P < .05) and 0.69 (P < .001), respectively. Patients in the luspatercept group also had a 25% lower rate of MDS-related inpatient visits versus patients in the ESA group, with an aIRR of 0.75 (P < .05).

“Further research is necessary to evaluate the financial impact of this lower HRU [healthcare resource utilization] burden among patients who initiated luspatercept more recently,” Ball and colleagues noted about the analysis results.