Analysis: Gene therapy for sickle cell disease will be cost-effective if health disparities considered

New multimillion-dollar treatments for sickle cell disease (SCD) will be cost-effective in the U.S. if racial health outcome and health access disparities are taken into consideration, according to a new cost analysis led by Yale School of Medicine’s George Goshua, MD.

Researchers say the one-time cure is likely to cost upwards of $2.7 million per patient, as opposed to just over $1 million for standard care. But while traditional cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) may label gene therapy for SCD prohibitively expensive, researchers say distributional cost-effectiveness analysis (DCEA), taking into account the health disparities faced by many Black Americans in access to care and health outcomes, reveals a possible equitable therapeutic strategy for people living with SCD in the United States.