ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Health Economics
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1566101
Cost-utility analysis of empagliflozin compared with dapagliflozin in patients with type 2 diabetes in China
Provisionally accepted
- Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital, Yantai, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Background: Empagliflozin, a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor, performs a reduction in the all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients compared to dapagliflozin, which has been included in the national volume-based procurement in China. The objective of this study is to evaluate the long-term cost-utility of the addition of empagliflozin (10 mg or 25 mg) versus dapagliflozin (10 mg) in T2DM patients with insufficient control by metformin monotherapy from the perspective of Chinese health care payers.The IQVIA CORE diabetes model was used for cost-utility analysis to compare the longterm economics of empagliflozin (10 mg or 25 mg) versus dapagliflozin (10 mg) respectively. In the two independent analyses, the discount rate was 5% per year, and the utility value was derived from the published literatures. The baseline demographic and biochemical data, as well as treatment efficacy data were obtained from the EMPA-REG MET clinical trial and network meta-analysis, respectively.Results: Compared with dapagliflozin 10 mg, empagliflozin 10 mg and empagliflozin 25 mg improved the life expectancy by 0.011 and 0.02 years, and improved the quality adjusted life years (QALYs) by 0.011 and 0.02 years, respectively. The total cost of empagliflozin group (10 mg) was 279 Chinese Yuan lower than that of the dapagliflozin group (10 mg), making it an absolutely 2 economical choice. The total cost of empagliflozin (25 mg) was expected to be 1,601 Chinese Yuan higher than dapagliflozin, with an incremental cost-utility ratio (ICUR) of 80,052 Chinese Yuan per QALY, below the set willingness to pay (WTP) threshold of 85,698 Chinese Yuan per QALY.For T2DM patients with insufficient control by metformin monotherapy, the addition of empagliflozin 10 mg showed better efficacy and lower cost compared to dapagliflozin 10 mg, making it an absolutely economical choice. Based on the set WTP threshold, empagliflozin 25 mg was also a more cost-effective treatment option than dapagliflozin from the perspective of Chinese healthcare payers.
Keywords: Cost-utility analysis, type 2 diabetes mellitus, empagliflozin, dapagliflozin, China
Received: 24 Jan 2025; Accepted: 19 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Chen, Zhao and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Quan Zhao, Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital, Yantai, China
Bei Zhang, Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital, Yantai, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.