Abstract | BACKGROUND: Escalating healthcare costs are necessitating the practice of value-based oncology. It is crucial to critically evaluate the economic impact of influential but expensive therapies such as immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). To date, no systematic assessment of the cost-effectiveness (CE) of ICIs has been performed. METHODS:
PRISMA-guided systematic searches of the PubMed database were conducted. Studies of head/neck (n = 3), lung (n = 5), genitourinary (n = 4), and melanoma (n = 8) malignancies treated with ICIs were evaluated. The reference willingness-to-pay (WTP) threshold was $100,000/QALY. RESULTS: CONCLUSIONS: With limited data and from the reference WTP, nivolumab was not cost-effective for HNCs. Pembrolizumab was cost-effective for NSCLC; although not the case for nivolumab, applying PD-L1 cutoffs resulted in adequate CE. Most data for nivolumab and pembrolizumab in GUCs did not point towards adequate CE. Contrary to ipilimumab, either nivolumab or pembrolizumab is cost-effective for melanoma. Despite these conclusions, it cannot be overstated that careful patient selection is critical for CE. Future publication of CE investigations and clinical trials (along with longer follow-up of existing data) could substantially alter conclusions from this analysis.
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Authors | Vivek Verma, Tanja Sprave, Waqar Haque, Charles B Simone 2nd, Joe Y Chang, James W Welsh, Charles R Thomas Jr |
Journal | Journal for immunotherapy of cancer
(J Immunother Cancer)
Vol. 6
Issue 1
Pg. 128
(11 23 2018)
ISSN: 2051-1426 [Electronic] England |
PMID | 30470252
(Publication Type: Journal Article, Review, Systematic Review)
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Chemical References |
- Antibodies, Monoclonal
- Antineoplastic Agents
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Topics |
- Antibodies, Monoclonal
(economics, therapeutic use)
- Antineoplastic Agents
(economics, therapeutic use)
- Cost-Benefit Analysis
- Humans
- Immunotherapy
(methods)
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