Better Therapeutics Inc. announced the publication of health economic data for its prescription-only digital behavioral treatment for type 2 diabetes (T2D), AspyreRx. The study, titled "Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of a Prescription Digital Therapeutic in Type 2 Diabetes'' has been published in Advances in Therapy, a prominent peer-reviewed medical journal. The study's authors conclude that, from a healthcare payer perspective, AspyreRx plus standard of care (SoC) was estimated to be both economically and clinically superior to SoC alone over the lifetime horizon.

According to the American Diabetes Association, the estimated national cost of diabetes in 2022 was $412.9 billion, of which $306.6 billion (74%) represents direct health care expenditures attributable to diabetes and $106.3 billion (26%) represents lost productivity from work-related absenteeism, reduced productivity at work and at home, unemployment from chronic disability, and premature mortality. AspyreRx delivers a novel form of personalized cognitive behavioral therapy, backed by robust data demonstrating clinically meaningful and durable hemoglobin A1c reductions in patients with T2D. This latest study modeled the cost-effectiveness of AspyreRx plus SoC versus SoC alone in T2D over a lifetime horizon.

The analysis followed the modeling precedent established by the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) for the appraisals of T2D medications. From a healthcare payer perspective, AspyreRx plus SoC versus SoC alone was dominant because AspyreRx was associated both with gains in quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and cost savings of $7,343 per patient over the lifetime horizon (i.e., adding AspyreRx to SoC is more effective and less costly). AspyreRx plus SoC was cost-effective at a willingness-to-pay of $100,000 per QALY over SoC alone, with an incremental net monetary benefit (INMB) of $17,443.

At other commonly applied thresholds of $50,000 and $150,000 per QALY, the study yielded INMBs of $12,393 and $22,493, respectively. Savings were primarily driven by a reduction in drug costs, followed by reductions in adverse event costs.