The expected number of units of transfused platelets was 20.8 with usual care and 14.1 with rhIL-11 (difference of 6.7 favouring rhIL-11).
The expected costs were $3,495 with usual care and $5,320 with rhIL-11 (difference of $1,834 favouring usual care). This conclusion was robust to most of the sensitivity analyses.
The expected costs of rhIL-11 would be comparable to those associated with usual care only if the probability of transfusion with rhIL-11 dropped to 0.140 (it was 0.704 in the base-case).
Similarly, the price of rhIL-11 would have to decrease substantially (from $181 to $50 per vial) for the two strategies to be equally costly.