Real-world impact of the high concentration non-avian high molecular weight hyaluronan on pain medication use among osteoarthritis patients

Objective: A prior study found that hyaluronic acid (HA) treatment may help reduce pain medication use (such as steroids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs [NSAIDs] and opioids) among knee osteoarthritis (OA) patients in the real-world setting. This study aims to update the prior study results to include only the high concentration non-avian high molecular weight hyaluronan (HMW-HA) injectables using data from recent years. Study design: This was a retrospective cohort study utilizing IBM MarketScan Commercial data from 2008 to 2015. Methods: Commercially insured patients between 18 and 64 years of age who received high concentration non-avian HMW-HA (Orthovisc(1)) between 1 January 2008 and 30 June 2015 were identified. Utilization of three prescription pharmacotherapies commonly used in the treatment for knee OA - NSAIDs, corticosteroid injections and opioids - in the 6 month pre and post periods was assessed. Utilization was measured as number of prescriptions and any prescription (yes/no). The independent variable was receiving the high concentration non-avian HMW-HA injection. Paired sample t-test and McNemar's test were used to assess pre-post changes. Results: The utilization of NSAIDs and steroids prescriptions was reduced significantly during the post period among the study cohort. The proportion of patients filling these prescriptions during the post period was also reduced (p < .001). In addition, the number of patients getting any opioid prescriptions was reduced significantly during the post period (p < .001). Conclusions: Based on this retrospective cohort study, the high concentration non-avian HMW-HA may offer effective pain alleviation among knee OA patients while reducing prescription pain medications such as steroids, NSAIDs and opioids.