“EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This project is a forecast Social Return on Investment (SROI) analysis, aimed at predicting the societal impacts that could be achieved if we invested in access to levodopa-based device-assisted therapies (DATs) for people living with advanced Parkinson’s disease (aPD). The focus of this analysis are people living with aPD who reside in the community (i.e. not in nursing home, hospice, or palliative care) and their families, over a three-year period.
To capture this value, interviews were conducted with people living with aPD, their partners, and the nurses and doctors who care for them. Broader societal impacts for people living with aPD, their partners, children, and the Australian Government were evaluated. The analysis revealed wide-ranging impacts for both people living with aPD, their partners, and children. These impacts arose from improvements in both motor and non-motor symptoms of the disease, highlighting the importance of considering the breadth of Parkinson’s disease (PD) symptoms.
This analysis is a valuable tool to shift the conversation from the cost of PD treatments to value and impact. This report captures insights into the real value of levodopa-based DATs for the treatment of aPD, and the difference they can make not only for people living with aPD but also for their partners and families.
For every $1 invested in access to levodopa-based DATs, $1.79 of social value is created for people living with aPD, their partners, children, and the Australian Government.
RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY
The impacts of aPD and its management on broader stakeholders including partners, families, and carers of people living with aPD are poorly understood. Much of this misunderstanding is owed to the exclusion of
stakeholders beyond the person living with aPD from traditional analyses such as a cost-effectiveness analysis. Although cost-effectiveness analyses provide a standardised way of evaluating the value provided
by novel treatments, these are focused on the patient’s clinical outcomes and costs, and often fail to capture the broader impacts on families and other people who may be impacted by PD.
The aim of this project is to evaluate the societal impact of investing in access to levodopa-based DATs (specifically Duodopa® and Vyalev®) for aPD, including the impact on people living with aPD, their partners
and children, hospitals, and the Government.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
• To assess the broader value of investing in levodopa-based DATs for aPD in Australia
• To capture the stories of people living with aPD and their close family including partners and children
• To quantify the change stakeholders experience as a result of expanding access to levodopa-based DATs
TYPE OF ANALYSIS
This analysis is a prospective forecast SROI designed to measure the social impact created by investing in access to levodopa-based DATs (specifically Duodopa® and Vyalev®) for aPD. A three-year time horizon was selected to capture the short- and medium-term changes in health and social impacts expected to result from treatment with a levodopa-based DAT. This was supported by 36-month clinical trial data assessing the benefit of Duodopa® in aPD, which demonstrated stable clinical effect and dosing over this time period (20). A longer time horizon was not modelled to avoid any uncertainty associated with potential reduced clinical effectiveness over time.
Further, one of the levodopa-based DATs (Vyalev®) evaluated in this SROI was not registered in Australia at the time of the analysis and was an investigational product in clinical trial. As such, it was not possible to conduct a retrospective evaluation due to the limited number of people who had access to this therapy, and a forecast SROI was considered appropriate to measure the benefit that would be created when this
treatment option becomes available in Australia.”
