Analysis Group Researchers Identify Novel Approach for Assessing Real-World Treatment Effectiveness in Patients with IBS-D
June 4, 2024
Assessing clinical treatment effectiveness in patients with conditions that present multifaceted symptoms across widely divergent patient populations can be challenging. An Analysis Group team has coauthored a study detailing how treatment-free intervals (TFIs) can be an effective surrogate for understanding therapy effectiveness for one such condition: irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea (IBS-D). The study is the first to use TFIs to assess real-world IBS-D therapy response, using two of the most commonly prescribed treatments in the US: rifaximin and eluxadoline.
The authors analyzed US commercial claims data for 9,255 IBS-D patients receiving one of the two treatments over the course of one year. They focused on patients’ TFI patterns – the length of time a patient remains off treatment after a course of therapy. Patient characteristics included age, sex, health plan type, region, and provider specialty, as of the index date. During baseline, medically relevant comorbidities, procedures, and treatments were reported. The authors specifically examined the duration of the index treatment, the number of prescription fills, and all-cause health care costs among adult patients with IBS-D treated with rifaximin or eluxadoline. They concluded that TFIs are a meaningful proxy for measuring treatment effectiveness in IBS-D. Using this method, they also found that patients treated with rifaximin had longer TFIs and lower health care costs than patients treated with eluxadoline.
The study, “Treatment-Free Interval: A Novel Approach to Assessing Real-World Treatment Effectiveness and Economic Impact Among Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Diarrhea,” was published in Advances in Therapy and was coauthored by Managing Principal Annie Guérin, Vice President Patrick S. Gagnon, Associate Rebecca Bungay, and Senior Research Professional Remi Bellefleur.