DGHI faculty member Eric Finkelstein and colleagues at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore have published new research showing the cost-effectiveness of genetic testing to identify certain health risks associated with epilepsy. These findings are informing Singaporean government guidelines on the use of certain epilepsy drugs, which have been linked to potentially-fatal diseases like Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis.
A recent discovery identified an allele, a component of a gene pair, that leads to adverse drug reactions. Because the allele is far more common among Asians, the Singapore government wanted to know whether it would be cost-effective to genetically test users of the drug for the risk allele or move to a more expensive drug that does not lead to the adverse drug reaction.
In this study, Finklestein and colleagues found that genetic testing for the risk allele is cost-effective in Singapore, and it is especially cost-effective for certain population subgroups because of their likelihood of having the risk allele. Other drivers that influenced cost-effectiveness were alternative drugs and duration of treatment.
Finkelstein will speak at DGHI on Monday, Sept. 24 at 12 pm on advances in health economics research. He is deputy director for the Duke-NUS Health Services and Systems Research Program.
