BMC Medicine (Mar 2025)

Value of cannabidiol as adjunctive treatment for Lennox Gastaut syndrome: cost-effectiveness and budget impact analysis

  • Zahra Goudarzi,
  • Farhad Lotfi,
  • Rahil sadat Shahtaheri,
  • Nasrin Moradi,
  • Mohsen Taghizadeh,
  • Khosro Keshavarz

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-025-03972-9
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 23, no. 1
pp. 1 – 11

Abstract

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Abstract Background Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) is a severe encephalopathic disease that leads to a decrease in the quality of life, physical injury, psychosocial impairment, and a significant increase in treatment costs. Cannabidiol (CBD) is approved for the adjunctive treatment of tonic-colonic seizures in LGS. This study aimed to determine the cost-effectiveness of CBD compared to the usual treatment in patients with LGS syndrome. Methods We developed a lifetime-horizon Markov model to compare the cost-effectiveness of adjunctive CBD versus usual care. Additionally, we performed a budget impact analysis over a 5-year time horizon. The findings were presented as the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) for CEA, with a willingness to pay threshold of $18,261 per QALY gained, and as the difference in the overall budget ($) between the scenarios with and without CBD for budget impact assessment. Results In the base case scenario, CBD was cost-effective compared with usual care $6573 per QALY. Sensitivity analyses substantiated these results. From a healthcare perspective, there is a 77% probability that CBD is cost-effective at a willingness to pay of $18,261 per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY). Overall, the market access of CBD was associated to an increased budget of about $3,459,846 (+ 33%) in the next 5 years simulated. Conclusions Compared to usual care, CBD seems to be cost-effective in LGS patients and sustainable, with less than 34% overall budget increased in the next 5 years. Future studies need to confirm our results in the real word setting and in other countries.

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