Why carry out this study?

Clinical guidelines recommend treatment with a sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitor or a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients with established cardiovascular disease.

As treatment with SGLT-2 inhibitors or GLP-1 receptor agonists, in addition to metformin, are to be continued lifelong, it is important to understand the long-term cost-effectiveness of these therapies for T2DM treatment.

An analysis of the long-term cost-effectiveness of treatment with empagliflozin 25 mg versus oral semaglutide 14 mg, in addition to metformin, was performed for T2DM patients in the UK setting, including those with hospitalisation for heart failure (hhF).

What was learned from the study?

Empagliflozin 25 mg is a cost-effective treatment option versus oral semaglutide 14 mg, when used in addition to metformin, for the treatment of T2DM patients in the UK.

Empagliflozin plus metformin was dominant (less costly and generated more health gains) to oral semaglutide plus metformin in the treatment of T2DM patients with hHF.