Metformin Cost Effective in Preventing Diabetes

According to recent research published in the journal Diabetes Care, “In the Indian Diabetes Prevention Program (IDPP), a 3-year randomized, controlled trial, lifestyle modification (LSM) and metformin helped to prevent type 2 diabetes in subjects with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT).

"Relative effectiveness and costs of interventions (LSM, metformin, and LSM and metformin) in the IDPP were estimated from the health care system perspective. Costs of intervention considered were only the direct medical costs. Direct nonmedical, indirect, and research costs were excluded.

The cost-effectiveness of interventions was measured as the amount spent to prevent one case of diabetes within the 3-year trial period. The direct medical cost to identify one subject With IGT was $117.

Direct medical costs of interventions over the 3-year trial period were $61 per subject in the control group, $225 with LSM, $220 with metformin, and $270 with LSM and metformin. The number of individuals needed to treat to prevent a case of diabetes was 6.4 with LSM, 6.9 with metformin, and 6.5 with LSM and metformin.

Cost-effectiveness to prevent one case of diabetes with LSM was $1,052, with metformin $1,095, and with LSM and metformin $1,359. Both LSM and metformin were cost-effective interventions for preventing diabetes among high risk-individuals in India and perhaps may be useful in other developing countries as well," wrote A. Ramachandran and colleagues.

The researchers concluded: "The long-term cost-effectiveness of the interventions needs to be assessed."

Ramachandran and colleagues published their study in Diabetes Care (Cost-effectiveness of the interventions in the primary prevention of diabetes among Asian Indians – Within-trial results of the Indian diabetes prevention programme (IDPP). Diabetes Care, 2007;30(10):2548-2552).

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