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Updated: Feb 25, 2026

Author Spotlight: A Pharmacodissection Approach to Uncover Mechanisms in Cardiovascular Disease Risk Populations
Published on: July 21, 2023
Early health technology assessments in pharmacogenomics: a case example in cardiovascular drugs
Joost W Geenen1, Ekaterina V Baranova1, Folkert W Asselbergs2,3,4
1Division of Pharmacoepidemiology & Clinical Pharmacology, Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University, PO Box 80082, 3508 TB Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Aim:
To assess the required characteristics (cost, sensitivity and specificity) of a pharmacogenomic test for being a cost-effective prevention of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors induced angioedema. Furthermore, we assessed the influence of only testing high-risk populations.
Materials & Methods:
A decision tree was used.
Results:
With a willingness-to-pay threshold of €20,000 and €80,000 per quality adjusted life year, a 100% sensitive and specific test may have a maximum cost of €1.30 and €1.95, respectively. When only genotyping high-risk populations, the maximum test price would be €5.03 and €7.55, respectively.
Conclusion:
This theoretical pharmacogenomic test is only cost-effective at high specificity, high sensitivity and a low price. Only testing high-risk populations yields more realistic maximum test prices for cost-effectiveness of the intervention.
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