New Data Presented at ISPOR 2022 Analyzes the Real-world Economic Burden of Prescription Opioid Overdose and Use of Naloxone in the United States Using a Large Healthcare Claims Database

 

As the opioid epidemic continues to devastate communities and pose a serious public health crisis across the country, gaining insights into the challenges and solutions to help protect at-risk communities and reduce healthcare utilization is critical.

New retrospective analyses from Optum Lifesciences and Emergent BioSolutions presented at The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research’s (ISPOR) Annual Meeting, examines the prevalence, demographics, and healthcare utilization of individuals who have experienced opioid overdoses and individuals who are at-risk of opioid overdose across a data set of 7.87 million insured individuals aged 18 years and older.

“Through our analyses of Optum’s Clinformatics® Data Mart (CDM) that is derived from administrative health claims for members of large Commercial, Medicare Advantage, and Managed Medicaid health plans database, we found that only 5.2 percent of the 2.7 million people at-risk overdose population received naloxone in 2019,” said Dr. Mohan K. Sindhwani M.D.

“The data suggests that despite prescribing guidelines and the prevalence of opioid overdose among at-risk patients, naloxone remains under-dispensed,” said Gay Owens PharmD, MBA.

“Opioid overdoses resulted in significant economic burden to patients and payors in the healthcare industry is another key insight from the data – it was found that the average cost saving per opioid overdose episode was $5,899 for individuals prescribed naloxone on low dose opioids (<50 MME), and $8,283 for those on high dose opioids (≥50 MME) between 2016-2019,” said Arun Changolkar PhD, MSc, MBA.

Emergent presented the following six posters at ISPOR:

• Real-World Opioid Overdose Trends, Costs, and Comorbidities in Commercial, Managed Medicare, and Managed Medicaid Patients in the United States (2016-2019)
• Real-World Naloxone Prescription Trends, Costs, and Comorbidities in Commercial, Managed Medicare, and Managed Medicaid Patients in the United States (2016-2019)
• Real-World Economic Benefit of Naloxone Use Among Illicit-Use Opioid Overdose Patients with Respiratory Comorbidity and on Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD)
• Real-World Economic Burden of Illicit-Use Opioid Overdose Patients with and without Respiratory Comorbidity and not on Medication for Opioid Use Disorder
• Real-World At-Risk Opioid Overdose Patient Trends, Economic Burden, and Naloxone Use in the United States (2016-2019)
• Real-World Economic Benefit of Administering Naloxone Among Patients with High- and Low-Dose Opioid Overdose

Emergent – with its focus on addressing public health threats such as opioid overdoses – has remained committed to increasing public awareness, access, and availability of potentially lifesaving opioid overdose reversal medicines, such as naloxone. This body of insights, combined with several other cuts of the data previously presented at leading conferences, underscores the need for increased naloxone distribution to this diverse and vulnerable patient populations.