{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.05225547119249665, 'fraction_numerical': 0.04064314426083073, 'mean_word_length': 5.120218579234972, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 5, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Demographics, treatment patterns, and healthcare utilization and cost of repository corticotropin injection in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus or rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract Objective: To evaluate healthcare resource utilization (HRU) and costs among patients who initiated repository corticotropin injection (RCI; H.P. Acthar Gel) treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods: Patients aged ≥18 years with ≥2 diagnoses for either RA or SLE between July 1, 2006 and April 30, 2015 were identified in the HealthCore Integrated Research Database. Index RCI date was the earliest date of a medical or pharmacy claim for RCI after diagnosis. Baseline characteristics, pre- and post-initiation HRU and costs were assessed using descriptive statistics. Results: This study identified 180 RA patients (mean age = 60 years, 56% female) and 29 SLE patients (mean age = 45 years, 90% female) who initiated RCI. First RCI use averaged 7.1 and 22.6 months after the initial RA and SLE diagnosis, respectively. After RCI initiation, RA patients incurred significantly lower per-patient-per-month (PPPM) all-cause medical costs ($1,881 vs $682, p < .01) vs the pre-initiation period, driven by lower PPPM hospitalizations costs ($1,579 vs $503, p < .01). Overall PPPM healthcare costs were higher ($2,751 vs $5,487, p < .01) due to higher PPPM prescription costs ($869 vs $4,805, p < .01). Similarly, SLE patients had decreased PPPM hospitalization costs ($3,192 vs $799, p = .04) and increased PPPM prescription costs ($905 vs $7,443, p < .01) after initiating RCI; the difference in overall PPPM healthcare costs was not statistically significant likely, due to small sample size. Conclusion: This study, across a heterogeneous population of variable disease duration, described clinical and healthcare utilization and costs of RA and SLE patients initiating RCI in a real-world setting. We observed that patients receiving RCI had lower utilization and costs for medical services in both disease populations, which partially offset the increased prescription costs by 30% and 37%. Future research is needed to explore factors associated with RCI initiation and its impact on long-term outcomes.