Cost of Delivering 12-Dose Isoniazid and Rifapentine Versus 6 Months of Isoniazid for Tuberculosis Infection in a High-Burden Setting

Background: Successful delivery and completion of tuberculosis preventive treatment are necessary for tuberculosis elimination. Shorter preventive treatment regimens currently have higher medication costs, but patients spend less time in care and are more likely to complete treatment. It is unknown how economic costs of successful delivery differ between longer and shorter regimens in high-tuberculosis-burden settings.

Methods: We developed survey instruments to collect costs from program and patient sources, considering costs incurred from when household contacts first entered the health system. We compared the cost per completed course of preventive treatment with either 6 months of daily isoniazid (6H) or 3 months of weekly isoniazid and rifapentine (3HP), delivered by the Indus Health Network tuberculosis program in Karachi, Pakistan, between October 2016 and February 2018.

Results: During this period, 459 individuals initiated 6H and 643 initiated 3HP; 39% and 61% completed treatment, respectively. Considering costs to both the program and care recipients, the cost per completed course was 394 US dollars (USD) for 6H and 333 USD for 3HP. Using a new 2020 price for rifapentine reduced the cost per completed course of 3HP to 290 USD. Under varying assumptions about drug prices and costs incurred by care recipients, the cost per completed course was lower for 3HP in all scenarios, and the largest cost drivers were the salaries of clinical staff.

Conclusions: In a high-burden setting, the cost of successful delivery of 3HP was lower than that of 6H, driven by higher completion.