Pharmaco-economic aspects of in-vitro fertilization in Italy

Given the higher efficacy of follitropin-beta, a new recombinant follicle stimulating hormone (r-FSH), versus urinary-FSH (u-FSH), the present study was carried out to evaluate the cost-effectiveness ratio (CER) of follitropin-beta in comparison with u-FSH in women undergoing in-vitro fertilization (IVF) in Italy. Clinical decision analysis techniques were used to retrospectively model the direct medical costs of women undergoing IVF treatment. Seven Italian experts were interviewed, using a semi-structured questionnaire, in order to adapt the results of all clinical trials to the Italian patterns of care. Three analyses were conducted considering the public, the private sectors and a mixture of them (currently representing the Italian situation). The estimated total cost of IVF treatments varies from 106.9 and 211.7 billion Lire (63.2 and 125.2 million US$) depending on setting and type of treatment. The average CER varies from 21.5 and 37.7 million Lire (12 700 and 22 300 $US) in the different hypotheses considered. The incremental CER varies from 19.2 and 26.0 million Lire (11 300 and 15 400 $US) depending on setting and type of treatment.