What did the committee consider regarding the cost of iron supplementation?
The committee considered that the overall cost will be lower in CONFIRM-HF than FAIR-HF due to the reduced intervention cost and similar reduced hospitalisation rate to that of FAIR-HF and therefore considered that IV iron therapy administered according to the CONFIRM-HF dosing regime and over a 12 month period is likely to be cost-effective. The committee also noted that although oral iron is much cheaper, as mentioned above, the clinical evidence suggests that there is no clinical benefit and there are also compliance issues in clinical practice and therefore there is not likely to be any benefit of oral iron to people with HF. The high cost of IV iron supplementation and the large population of people with HF requiring treatment would mean a positive recommendation for IV iron supplementation would have a large cost impact for the NHS. 