Patients with a rare immunodeficiency disorder who are treated with lifelong immunoglobulin replacement therapy (IRT) have a lower risk of premature death than patients treated with a hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT), but they also have a reduced quality of life and must assume a substantial financial burden, according to a new study led by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Using a computational model to calculate the costs and benefits of IRT and HSCT for patients with agammaglobulinemia, the researchers concluded that the high cost of IRT in the U.S. undermines its cost-utility, particularly when compared to Canada and European countries, where the cost of IRT is nearly a third of what it is in the U.S.