HER-2 testing and trastuzumab therapy for metastatic breast cancer: a cost-effectiveness analysis

Chinese utility weights for the EORTC cancer-specific utility instrument QLU-C10D

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study is to provide Chinese utility weights for the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Utility Measure-Core 10 Dimensions (EORTC QLU-C10D) which is a preference-based cancer-specific utility instrument derived from the EORTC QLQ-C30.

METHODS

We conducted an online survey of the general population in China, with quota sampling for age and gender. Each respondent was asked to complete a discrete choice experimental survey consisting of 16 randomly selected choice sets. The conditional logit model and mixed logit model were used to analyze respondents' preferences, and the goodness of fit of the model was tested.

RESULTS

A total of 2003 respondents were included in the analysis. Utility decrements within dimensions were typically monotonic. Monotonic inconsistency issues in the Fatigue, Sleep, and Nausea dimensions were normalized by monotonicity correction. Physical functioning, Pain, and Role functioning were associated with the greatest utility weights, with the smallest decrements being in Bowel problems and Emotional functioning. The utility value for the worst health state was 0.083, i.e. slightly higher than being dead.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides the first China-specific set of value for the QLU-C10D based on societal preferences of the Chinese adult general population. The value set can be used as a cancer-specific scoring system for economic evaluations of new oncology therapies and technologies in China.

Treatment Sequencing Patterns and Associated Direct Medical Costs of Metastatic Breast Cancer Care in the United States, 2011 to 2021

IMPORTANCE

Advances in treatment of metastatic breast cancer (MBC) led to changes in clinical practice and treatment costs in the US over the past decade. There is limited information on current MBC treatment sequences and associated costs by MBC subtype in the US.

OBJECTIVES

To identify treatment patterns by MBC subtype and associated anticancer and supportive drug costs from health care sector and Medicare perspectives.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS

This economic evaluation analyzed data of patients with MBC obtained from the nationwide Flatiron Health database, an electronic health record-derived, deidentified database with data from community and academic practices across the US from 2011 to 2021. Participants included women aged at least 18 years diagnosed with MBC, who had at least 6 months of follow-up data, known hormone receptor (HR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (ERBB2) receptor status, and at least 1 documented line of therapy. Patients with documented receipt of clinical study drugs were excluded. Data were analyzed from June 2021 to May 2022.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

Outcomes of interest were frequency of different drug regimens received as a line of therapy by subtype for the first 5 lines and mean medical costs of documented anticancer treatment and supportive care drugs per patient by MBC subtype and years since metastatic diagnosis, indexed to 2021 US dollars.

RESULTS

Among 15 215 patients (10 171 patients [66.85%] with HR-positive and ERBB2-negative MBC; 2785 patients [18.30%] with HR-positive and ERBB2-positive MBC; 802 patients [5.27%] with HR-negative and ERBB2-positive MBC; 1457 patients [9.58%] with triple-negative breast cancer [TNBC]) who met eligibility criteria, 1777 (11.68%) were African American, 363 (2.39%) were Asian, and 9800 (64.41%) were White; the median (range) age was 64 (21-84) years. The mean total per-patient treatment and supportive care drug cost using publicly available Medicare prices was $334 812 for patients with HR-positive and ERBB2-positive MBC, $284 609 for patients with HR-negative and ERBB2-positive MBC, $104 774 for patients with HR-positive and ERBB2-negative MBC, and $54 355 for patients with TNBC. From 2011 to 2019 (most recent complete year 1 data are for patients diagnosed in 2019), annual costs in year 1 increased from $12 986 to $80 563 for ERBB2-negative and HR-positive MBC, $99 997 to $156 712 for ERBB2-positive and HR-positive MBC, and $31 397 to $53 775 for TNBC.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

This economic evaluation found that drug costs related to MBC treatment increased between 2011 and 2021 and differed by tumor subtype. These findings suggest the growing financial burden of MBC treatment in the US and highlights the importance of performing more accurate cost-effectiveness analysis of novel adjuvant therapies that aim to reduce metastatic recurrence rates for early-stage breast cancer.

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis from a Societal Perspective of Recurrence Index for Distant Recurrence (RecurIndex) in Women with Hormone Receptor-Positive and HER2-Negative Early-Stage Breast Cancer

Purpose

A clinical-genomic prognostic multigene panel (RI-DR assay, RecurIndex^®), predicting the risk level of distant recurrence (DR) in early-stage breast cancer (EBC) patients with an Asian background, has been validated as a valuable tool for identifying high-risk patients to develop distant recurrence (metastasis). Although the clinical benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy from the assay’s prediction is already proved, its affordability remains uncertain. This study is the first time in which the long-term cost-effectiveness of the RI-DR assay is evaluated.

Patients and Methods

A lifetime Markov decision-analytic model was developed from a societal perspective to estimate the life-years gained (LYGs), quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), medical costs, and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs), comparing EBC women with and without RI-DR genomic testing. A decision tree was used to classify patients in one of the fifteen end nodes (by order, each arm was stratified by a patient being tested or not with the RI-DR assay, being treated or not with adjuvant chemotherapy and had no, minor, major, or fatal toxicity after adjuvant chemotherapy). Health utilities, costs, transition probabilities, and survival data were extracted from the scientific literature. Deterministic sensitivity analysis (DSA) and probabilistic sensitivity analysis (PSA) were performed on variables to assess the robustness of the model. A willingness-to-pay (WTP) threshold of 790,000 NT$ per QALY gained was considered as a cost-effectiveness criterion.

Results

The incremental cost per QALY gained under base-case assumptions of the model was 173,842 NT$. Findings on the variation in model input parameters were robust and confirmed that every key variable was cost-effective for the benefit of RI-DR testing.

Conclusion

The clinical-genomic RI-DR assay is cost-effective in guiding adjuvant chemotherapy decisions compared to current clinical practice guidelines.

Cost-effectiveness of treatments for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer and associated metastases: an overview of systematic reviews

Introduction: Treatment of human epithelial growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer has rapidly evolved over the past decades with the addition of trastuzumab, lapatinib, pertuzumab, and trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1). These treatments have dramatically impacted the survival of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (mBC) patients. Nonetheless, these agents are associated with high price tags, begging the question, 'Are treatments for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer and associated metastases cost-effective'?Areas covered: We examine evidence on the cost-effectiveness of treatments for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer and associated metastases through a review of systematic reviews on the topic. Additionally, we discuss the implications of our findings and provide recommendations for future directions in the assessment of the cost-effectiveness of targeted directed agents for HER2-positive mBC.Expert opinion: Heterogeneous evidence from cost-effectiveness studies on the use of targeted directed agents for HER2-positive mBC across the world caution against cross-country comparisons of the value of such treatments. It also militates in favor of the production and use of cost-effectiveness analyses for local rather than global decision-making, thus ensuring that economic evaluations reflect the needs of local decision-makers and populations for which they are devised.

Neurotrophic tyrosine kinase inhibitors: A review of implications for patients, clinicians and healthcare services

Neurotrophic tyrosine receptor kinase (NTRK) inhibitors represent the latest advancement as a treatment option in targeted therapies for malignant disease. NTRK gene fusions involving NTRK1, 2 or 3 are implicated as genetics drivers for a number of tumour types which arise within adult and paedatric patients. NTRK inhibitors (Larotrectinib and Entrectinib) are effective agents which have demonstrated clinical benefit in the treatment of NTRK fusion positive solid tumours. Larotrectinib represents the first targeted agent to receive approval from international authorisation and commissioning bodies for the treatment of a specific genetic expression indiscriminate of the site from which the tumour has arisen. As such NTRK inhibitors could pave the way for international healthcare bodies to adopt a similar approach for future targeted therapies thereby altering the manner in which healthcare providers and patients are able to access and utilise innovative, targeted treatment options in future. The potential implications of this new approach are likely to impact upon several aspects of the traditional authorisation and commissioning pathways with potential changes to the design of clinical trials, the review and approval process by regulatory bodies and immunohistopathology services.

Health Economic Decision Tree Models of Diagnostics for Dummies: A Pictorial Primer

Health economics is a discipline of economics applied to health care. One method used in health economics is decision tree modelling, which extrapolates the cost and effectiveness of competing interventions over time. Such decision tree models are the basis of reimbursement decisions in countries using health technology assessment for decision making. In many instances, these competing interventions are diagnostic technologies. Despite a wealth of excellent resources describing the decision analysis of diagnostics, two critical errors persist: not including diagnostic test accuracy in the structure of decision trees and treating sequential diagnostics as independent. These errors have consequences for the accuracy of model results, and thereby impact on decision making. This paper sets out to overcome these errors using color to link fundamental epidemiological calculations to decision tree models in a visually and intuitively appealing pictorial format. The paper is a must-read for modelers developing decision trees in the area of diagnostics for the first time and decision makers reviewing diagnostic reimbursement models.

Economic Value of Pharmacogenetic Testing for Cancer Drugs with Clinically Relevant Drug-Gene Associations: A Systematic Literature Review

BACKGROUND

Pharmacogenetic testing can provide predictive insights about the efficacy and safety of drugs used in cancer treatment. Although many drug-gene associations have been reported in the literature, the strength of evidence supporting each association can vary significantly. Even among the subgroup of drugs classified by the PharmGKB database to have a high or moderate level of evidence, there is limited information regarding the economic value of pharmacogenetic testing.

OBJECTIVES

To: (a) summarize the available pharmacoeconomic evidence assessing the value of pharmacogenetic testing for cancer drugs with clinically relevant drug-gene associations; (b) determine the quality of the studies that contain this evidence; and (c) discuss the quality of this evidence with respect to the level of evidence of the drug-gene associations.

METHODS

The PharmGKB database was used to identify cancer drugs with clinically relevant drug-gene associations graded high (1A, 1B) or moderate (2A, 2B). A systematic literature review was conducted using these drugs. Ovid MEDLINE and Embase databases were searched to identify cost-effectiveness, cost-utility, or cost-minimization studies comparing pharmacogenetic testing to an alternative. Cost and effect values from every relevant comparison within the studies were extracted, and the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was either extracted or calculated for each comparison. Quality assessment was conducted for each study using the Quality of Health Economic Studies (QHES) instrument. Qualitative synthesis was used to summarize the data.

RESULTS

The search yielded 2,191 citations, of which 35 studies met the inclusion criteria. Pharmacoeconomic studies were available for the following drugs from the PharmGKB database: fluoropyrimidine, 6-mercaptopurine, irinotecan, carboplatin, cisplatin, erlotinib, gefitinib, cetuximab, panitumumab, and trastuzumab. The studies were conducted in Asia, Europe, Canada, the United States, and Mexico and reported cost-utility, cost-effectiveness, and cost-minimization outcomes. The mean QHES score was 80 (SD = 22) for the studies of drug-gene pairs with high (1A, 1B) and moderate (2A, 2B) levels of evidence (1A = 82, 1B = 93, 2A = 71, and 2B = 74). There was variation across studies in terms of reporting. 109 relevant comparisons were identified within the studies. Of those that reported cost per life-year or cost per quality-adjusted life-year (n = 58 comparisons), pharmacogenetic testing was dominant in 21% overall and 42%, 21%, 17%, and 5% of the comparisons in Asia, Europe, Canada, and the United States, respectively. Variability was observed in the ICER values regardless of geographic region or drug. Pharmacogenetic testing was cost saving in 17 of 19 cost-minimization comparisons and was favored most frequently when compared with genetically indiscriminate strategies containing the drug of interest.

CONCLUSIONS

There was mixed evidence regarding the value of pharmacogenetic testing to guide cancer treatment. For future pharmacogenomic-related economic studies, we recommend prioritizing clinically relevant drug-gene associations and greater adherence to available best practice guidelines for conducting and reporting economic evaluation studies.

DISCLOSURES

No outside funding supported this review. Part of Hussain's research time was supported by a Merit Review Award (I01 BX000545), Medical Research Service, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Hussain also reports personal fees from Bristol-Myers Squibb, AstraZeneca, Novartis, Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, and France Foundation, outside the submitted work. Onukwugha reports grants from Pfizer and Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, along with advisory board fees from Novo Nordisk, outside the submitted work. Faruque, Neuberger, and Noh have nothing to disclose.

Using Performance-Based Risk-Sharing Arrangements to Address Uncertainty in Indication-Based Pricing

BACKGROUND

The rise in pharmaceutical expenditures in recent years has increased health care payer interest in ensuring good value for the money. Indication-based pricing (IBP) sets separate, indication-specific prices paid to the manufacturer according to the expected efficacy of a drug in each of its indications. IBP allows payers to consistently pay for value across indications. While promising, a limitation of IBP as originally conceived is that efficacy estimates are typically based on clinical trial data, which may differ from real-world effectiveness. An outcomes guarantee is a type of performance-based risk-sharing arrangement that adjusts payments according to prospectively tracked outcomes. We suggest that an outcomes guarantee contract, which has been used by some payers, may be adapted to achieve indication-based prices supported by real-world effectiveness.

OBJECTIVE

To illustrate the potential of an outcomes guarantee to achieve indication-based prices aligned with real-world value, using a case study of trastuzumab for the treatment of metastatic breast and advanced gastric cancers.

METHODS

We estimated costs and outcomes under traditional IBP (i.e., expected value IBP) and outcomes guarantee frameworks and calculated incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) comparing treatment with and without trastuzumab. Efficacy data came from pivotal trials, whereas effectiveness data came from observational studies. We adjusted trastuzumab prices in order to achieve target ICERs of $150,000 per quality-adjusted life-year under each framework and for each indication.

RESULTS

To achieve the ICER target under traditional IBP, the unit price of trastuzumab using efficacy evidence was adjusted for metastatic breast and advanced gastric cancers from an average sales price of $9.17 per mg to $3.50 per mg and $0.93 per mg, respectively. Under an outcomes guarantee, the unit price of trastuzumab using effectiveness evidence was adjusted for metastatic breast cancer and advanced gastric cancer to $8.66 per mg and $0.20 per mg, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Like expected value IBP, outcomes guarantee contracts can also vary payment based on indication. In addition, an outcomes guarantee can also reduce uncertainty regarding effectiveness and better align payment with the actual value of a treatment.

DISCLOSURES

No funding supported this study. Carlson reports consulting fees from Genentech, Pfizer, and Seattle Genetics. The other authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose. Study concept and design were contributed by Carlson, Yeung, and Li. Yeung, Carlson, and Li collected and analyzed the data. The manuscript was written primarily by Yeung, along with Carlson and Li, and revised by all the authors.

Improving accuracy of breast cancer biomarker testing in India

There is a global mandate even in countries with low resources to improve the accuracy of testing biomarkers in breast cancer viz. oestrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2neu) given their critical impact in the management of patients. The steps taken include compulsory participation in an external quality assurance (EQA) programme, centralized testing, and regular performance audits for laboratories. This review addresses the status of ER/PR and HER2neu testing in India and possible reasons for the delay in development of guidelines and mandate for testing in the country. The chief cause of erroneous ER and PR testing in India continues to be easily correctable issues such as fixation and antigen retrieval, while for HER2neu testing, it is the use of low-cost non-validated antibodies and interpretative errors. These deficiencies can however, be rectified by (i) distributing the accountability and responsibility to surgeons and oncologist, (ii) certification of centres for testing in oncology, and (iii) initiation of a national EQA system (EQAS) programme that will help with economical solutions and identifying the centres of excellence and instill a system for reprimand of poorly performing laboratories.

Reviewing the quality, health benefit and value for money of chemotherapy and targeted therapy for metastatic breast cancer

Purpose

To provide an overview of model characteristics and outcomes of model-based economic evaluations concerning chemotherapy and targeted therapy (TT) for metastatic breast cancer (MBC); to assess the quality of the studies; to analyse the association between model characteristics and study quality and outcomes.

Methods

PubMED and NHS EED were systematically searched. Inclusion criteria were as follows: English or Dutch language, model-based economic evaluation, chemotherapy or TT as intervention, population diagnosed with MBC, published between 2000 and 2014, reporting life years (LY) or quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) and an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio. General characteristics, model characteristics and outcomes of the studies were extracted. Quality of the studies was assessed through a checklist.

Results

24 studies were included, considering 50 comparisons (20 concerning chemotherapy and 30 TT). Seven comparisons were represented in multiple studies. A health state-transition model including the following health states: stable/progression-free disease, progression and death was used in 18 studies. Studies fulfilled on average 14 out of the 26 items of the quality checklist, mostly due to a lack of transparency in reporting. Thirty-one per cent of the incremental net monetary benefit was positive. TT led to higher iQALY gained, and industry-sponsored studies reported more favourable cost-effectiveness outcomes.

Conclusions

The development of a disease-specific reference model would improve the transparency and quality of model-based cost-effectiveness assessments for MBC treatments. Incremental health benefits increased over time, but were outweighed by the increased treatment costs. Consequently, increased health benefits led to lower value for money.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10549-017-4374-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Impact of Cigarette Smoking and Smoking Cessation on Life Expectancy Among People With HIV: A US-Based Modeling Study

BACKGROUND

 In the United States, >40% of people infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) smoke cigarettes.

METHODS

 We used a computer simulation of HIV disease and treatment to project the life expectancy of HIV-infected persons, based on smoking status. We used age- and sex-specific data on mortality, stratified by smoking status. The ratio of the non-AIDS-related mortality risk for current smokers versus that for never smokers was 2.8, and the ratio for former smokers versus never smokers was 1.0-1.8, depending on cessation age. Projected survival was based on smoking status, sex, and initial age. We also estimated the total potential life-years gained if a proportion of the approximately 248 000 HIV-infected US smokers quit smoking.

RESULTS

 Men and women entering HIV care at age 40 years (mean CD4⁺ T-cell count, 360 cells/µL) who continued to smoke lost 6.7 years and 6.3 years of life expectancy, respectively, compared with never smokers; those who quit smoking upon entering care regained 5.7 years and 4.6 years, respectively. Factors associated with greater benefits from smoking cessation included younger age, higher initial CD4⁺ T-cell count, and complete adherence to antiretroviral therapy. Smoking cessation by 10%-25% of HIV-infected smokers could save approximately 106 000-265 000 years of life.

CONCLUSIONS

 HIV-infected US smokers aged 40 years lose >6 years of life expectancy from smoking, possibly outweighing the loss from HIV infection itself. Smoking cessation should become a priority in HIV treatment programs.

Cost-Effectiveness of Pharmacogenomic and Pharmacogenetic Test-Guided Personalized Therapies: A Systematic Review of the Approved Active Substances for Personalized Medicine in Germany

BACKGROUND

The use of targeted therapies has recently increased. Pharmacogenetic tests are a useful tool to guide patient treatment and to test a response before administering medicines. Pharmacogenetic tests can predict potential drug resistance and may be used for determining genotype-based drug dosage. However, their cost-effectiveness as a diagnostic tool is often debatable. In Germany, 47 active ingredients are currently approved. A prior predictive test is required for 39 of these and is recommended for eight. The objective of this study was to review the cost-effectiveness (CE) of pharmacogenetic test-guided drug therapy and compare the application of drugs with and without prior genetic testing.

METHODS

A systematic literature review was conducted to identify the CE and cost-utility of genetic tests. Studies from January 2000 until November 2015 were searched in 16 databases including Medline, Embase, and Cochrane. A quality assessment of the full-text publications was performed using the validated Quality of Health Economic Studies (QHES) instrument.

RESULTS

In the majority of the included studies, the pharmacogenetic test-guided therapy represents a cost-effective/cost-saving treatment option. Only seven studies lacked a clear statement of CE or cost-savings, because of uncertainty, restriction to specific patient populations, or assumptions for comparative therapy. Moreover, the high quality of the available evidence was evaluated.

CONCLUSION

Pharmacogenetic testing constitutes an opportunity to improve the CE of pharmacotherapy. The CE of targeted therapies depends on various factors including costs, prevalence of biomarkers, and test sensitivity and specificity. To guarantee the CE comparability of stratified drug therapies, national and international standards for evaluation studies should be defined.

Cost-utility analyses of drug therapies in breast cancer: a systematic review

The economic evaluation (EE) of health care products has become a necessity. Their quality must be high in order to trust the results and make informed decisions. While cost-utility analyses (CUAs) should be preferred to cost-effectiveness analyses in the oncology area, the quality of breast cancer (BC)-related CUA has been given little attention so far. Thus, firstly, a systematic review of published CUA related to drug therapies for BC, gene expression profiling, and HER2 status testing was performed. Secondly, the quality of selected CUA was assessed and the factors associated with a high-quality CUA identified. The systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed, MEDLINE/EMBASE, and Cochrane to identify published CUA between 2000 and 2014. After screening and data extraction, the quality of each selected CUA was assessed by two independent reviewers, using the checklist proposed by Drummond et al. The analysis of factors associated with a high-quality CUA (defined as a Drummond score ≥7) was performed using a two-step approach. Our systematic review was based on 140 CUAs and showed a wide variety of methodological approaches, including differences in the perspective adopted, the time horizon, measurement of cost and effectiveness, and more specially health-state utility values (HSUVs). The median Drummond score was 7 [range 3-10]. Only one in two of the CUA (n = 74) had a Drummond score ≥7, synonymous of "high quality." The statistically significant predictors of a high-quality CUA were article with "gene expression profiling" topic (p = 0.001), consulting or pharmaceutical company as main location of first author (p = 0.004), and articles with both incremental cost-utility ratio and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio as outcomes of EE (p = 0.02). Our systematic review identified only 140 CUAs published over the past 15 years with one in two of high quality. It showed a wide variety of methodological approaches, especially focused on HSUVs. A critical appraisal of utility values is necessary to better understand one of the main difficulties encountered by authors and propose areas for improvement to increase the quality of CUA. Since the last 5 years, there is a tendency toward an improvement in the quality of these studies, probably coupled with economic context, a better and widely spreading of recommendations and thus appropriation by medical practitioners. That being said, there is an urgent need for mandatory use of European and international recommendations to ensure quality of such approaches and to allow easy comparison.

Comparison of visual and automated assessment of HER2 status and their impact on outcome in primary operable invasive ductal breast cancer

AIMS

To compare visual and computerized image analysis of HER2 immunohistochemistry (IHC) with fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) for HER2 status, and to examine the relationships with outcome in patients with primary operable invasive ductal breast cancer.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Tissue microarrays for 431 breast cancer patients were used to compare different approaches to the assessment of HER2 status. The cores were scored visually and with the Slidepath Tissue IA system, using the NICE-approved scoring system for the HercepTest, as well as by FISH. The agreement between visual and image analysis of HER2 IHC was excellent [interclass correlation coefficient (ICCC) = 0.95, rs = 0.90, r = 0.91, k = 0.81, and P < 0.001]. The agreement of HER2 FISH with visual and image analysis of HER2 IHC was also excellent (ICCC = 0.95 and ICCC = 0.92, respectively). Univariate survival analysis showed equivalent associations of visual and image analysis of HER2 and HER2 FISH with both recurrence-free survival (all P < 0.01) and cancer-specific survival (all P < 0.05) in patients with invasive ductal breast cancer.

CONCLUSION

Computerized image analysis of HER2 IHC gives results comparable to those obtained with visual assessment, with possible advantages in diagnostic pathology.

Evaluating cost benefits of combination therapies for advanced melanoma

BACKGROUND

Although a number of monoimmunotherapies and targeted therapies are available to treat BRAF+ advanced melanoma, response rates remain relatively low in the range of 22-53% with progression-free survival (PFS) in the range of 4.8-8.8 months. Recently, combination targeted therapies have improved response rates to about 66-69%, PFS to 11.0-12.6 months and overall survival (OS) to 25.1-25.6 months. While combination immunotherapies have improved response rates of 67 compared with 19-29% with monotherapies and improved PFS of 11.7 compared with 4.4-5.8 months with monotherapies, the OS benefit is yet to be established in phase 3 trials. As healthcare costs continue to rise, US payers have a predominant interest in assessing the value of available treatments. Therefore, a cost-benefit model was developed to evaluate the value of treating BRAF+ advanced melanoma with two combination therapies: nivolumab + ipilimumab (N+I) and dabrafenib + trametinib (D+T).

SCOPE

The model was used to estimate total costs, total costs by expenditure category, cost per month of PFS and cost per responder for the payer, and societal perspectives of treating advanced melanoma patients with the BRAF V600 mutation using combination targeted therapy (D+T) or combination immunotherapy (N+I). The model followed patients from initiation of treatment to the point of progression or death. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were conducted to evaluate the robustness of the results and to understand the dispersion of simulated results.

FINDINGS

Based on a hypothetical payer with one million covered lives, it was expected that fourteen metastatic melanoma patients with the BRAF V600 mutation would be treated each year. Cost-benefit with N+I and D+T was simulated from the payer perspective. The cost per month of PFS for N+I was $22,162, while that for D+T was $17,716 (-$4,446 cost difference); the cost per responder for N+I was $388,746 and that for D+T was $282,429 (-$106,316 cost difference). The cost per month of PFS and per responder from the societal perspective resembled the patterns observed from the payer's perspective: the cost per month of PFS for N+I was $22,843, while that for D+T was $18,283 (-$4,560 cost difference). The cost per responder for N+I was $400,695 and that for D+T was $291,473 (-$109,222 cost difference). The totals of travel and treatment time for N+I and D+T were 58 hours and 3.9 hours per patient, respectively, of which total infusion time for N+I accounted for a majority - 59% - of the 58 hours. Sensitivity analyses indicated that results were most sensitive to model inputs for median PFS, body weight, and drug cost. Moreover, D+T is likely associated with a lower cost per month of PFS and cost per responder than N+I, except at low body weights (less than 57 kg).

CONCLUSION

The model presented in this study was used to analyze the clinical and economic benefit of using combination therapies in advanced melanoma patients with the BRAF V600 mutation. This analysis suggests D+T therapy is associated with less patient time and lower costs relative to N+I to gain similar PFS and overall response rate (ORR) benefits.

The Molecular Analysis of Breast Cancer Utilizing Targeted Nanoparticle Based Ultrasound Contrast Agents

This study was structured to challenge the hypothesis that nano-sized particulates could be molecularly targeted and bound to the prognostic and predictive HER-2/neu cell membrane receptor to elicit detectable changes in ultrasound response from human breast cancer cells. SKBR-3 human breast cancer cells were enlisted to test the efficacy of the particle conjugation strategy used in this study and ultimately, to provide conclusive remarks regarding the validity of the stated hypothesis. A characterization-mode ultrasound (CMUS) system was used to apply a continuum mechanics based, two-step inversion algorithm to reconstruct the mechanical material properties of four cell/agarose test conditions upon three independent test samples. The four test conditions include: Herceptin® conjugated iron oxide nanoparticles bound to cells (HER-con), Herceptin® bound to cells (HER), iso-type matched antibody conjugated iron oxide nanoparticles bound to cells (ISO-con), and Cold Flow Buffer mixed with agarose (CFB). The statistical analysis of these ultrasound results supported the ability to differentiate between HER-2/neu positive SKBR-3 cells that have been successfully tagged with Herceptin® conjugated iron oxide particles to those that have not demonstrated particle binding. These findings serve as promising proof-of-concept data for the development of a quantitative histopathologic evaluation tool directed towards both in situ and in vivo applications. The ultimate goal of this research is to exploit the molecular expression of the HER-2/neu protein to offer rapid, quantitative ultrasound information concerning the malignancy rating of human breast tissue employing tumor targeting nanoparticle based ultrasound contrast agents. When fully developed, this could potentially help 32,000–63,000 women efficiently find their proper treatment strategy to fight and win their battle against breast cancer.

A global economic model to assess the cost-effectiveness of new treatments for advanced breast cancer in Canada

Objective Considering the increasing number of treatment options for metastatic breast cancer (MBC), it is important to develop high-quality methods to assess the cost-effectiveness of new anti-cancer drugs. This study aims to develop a global economic model that could be used as a benchmark for the economic evaluation of new therapies for MBC. Methods The Global Pharmacoeconomics of Metastatic Breast Cancer (GPMBC) model is a Markov model that was constructed to estimate the incremental cost per quality-adjusted life years (QALY) of new treatments for MBC from a Canadian healthcare system perspective over a lifetime horizon. Specific parameters included in the model are cost of drug treatment, survival outcomes, and incidence of treatment-related adverse events (AEs). Global parameters are patient characteristics, health states utilities, disutilities, and costs associated with treatment-related AEs, as well as costs associated with drug administration, medical follow-up, and end-of-life care. The GPMBC model was tested and validated in a specific context, by assessing the cost-effectiveness of lapatinib plus letrozole compared with other widely used first-line therapies for post-menopausal women with hormone receptor-positive (HR+) and epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive (HER2+) MBC. Results When tested, the GPMBC model led to incremental cost-utility ratios of CA$131 811 per QALY, CA$56 211 per QALY, and CA$102 477 per QALY for the comparison of lapatinib plus letrozole vs letrozole alone, trastuzumab plus anastrozole, and anastrozole alone, respectively. Results of the model testing were quite similar to those obtained by Delea et al., who also assessed the cost-effectiveness of lapatinib in combination with letrozole in HR+/HER2 + MBC in Canada, thus suggesting that the GPMBC model can replicate results of well-conducted economic evaluations. Conclusions The GPMBC model can be very valuable as it allows a quick and valid assessment of the cost-effectiveness of any new treatments for MBC in a Canadian context.

Evaluation of Cytoreductive Surgery and Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy for Peritoneal Carcinomatosis of Colorectal Origin in the Era of Value-Based Medicine

Peritoneal spread from colorectal cancer is second only to the liver as a site for metastasis. Cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (CRS-HIPEC) is a well-established treatment option for patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) of colorectal origin. However, due to concerns regarding both its clinical benefit and high cost, its universal adoption as the standard of care for patients with limited peritoneal dissemination has been slow. The purpose of this review was to clarify the clinical utility and cost effectiveness of CRS-HIPEC in the treatment of colorectal PC using the framework of value-based medicine, which attempts to combine both benefit and cost into a single quantifiable metric. Our comprehensive review of the clinical outcomes and cost effectiveness of CRS-HIPEC demonstrate that it is a highly valuable oncologic therapy and a good use of healthcare resources.

Structural Uncertainty of Markov Models for Advanced Breast Cancer

Objective. To examine the impact of structural uncertainty of Markov models in modeling cost-effectiveness for the treatment of advanced breast cancer (ABC). Methods. Four common Markov models for ABC were identified and examined. Markov models 1 and 2 have 4 health states (stable-disease, responding-to-therapy, disease-progressing, and death), and Markov models 3 and 4 only have 3 health states (stable-disease, disease-progressing, and death). In models 1 and 3, the possibility of death can occur in any health state, while in models 2 and 4, the chance of dying can only occur in the disease-progressing health state. A simulation was conducted to examine the impact of using different model structures on cost-effectiveness results in the context of a combination therapy of lapatinib and capecitabine for the treatment of HER2-positive ABC. Model averaging with an assumption of equal weights in all 4 models was used to account for structural uncertainty. Results. Markov model 3 yielded the lowest incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of $303,909 per quality-adjusted life year (QALY), while Markov model 1 produced the highest ICER ($495,800/QALY). At a willingness-to-pay threshold of $150,000/QALY, the probabilities that the combination therapy is considered to be cost-effective for Markov models 1, 2, 3, and 4 were 14.5%, 14.1%, 21.6%, and 17.0%, respectively. When using model averaging to synthesize different model structures, the resulting ICER was $389,270/QALY. Conclusions. Our study shows that modeling ABC with different Markov model structures yielded a wide range of cost-effectiveness results, suggesting the need to investigate structural uncertainty in health economic evaluation. When applied in the context of HER2-positive ABC treatment, the combination therapy with lapatinib is not cost-effective, regardless of which model was used and whether uncertainties were accounted for.

Economic Evaluations of Pharmacogenetic and Pharmacogenomic Screening Tests: A Systematic Review. Second Update of the Literature

Objective

Due to extended application of pharmacogenetic and pharmacogenomic screening (PGx) tests it is important to assess whether they provide good value for money. This review provides an update of the literature.

Methods

A literature search was performed in PubMed and papers published between August 2010 and September 2014, investigating the cost-effectiveness of PGx screening tests, were included. Papers from 2000 until July 2010 were included via two previous systematic reviews. Studies’ overall quality was assessed with the Quality of Health Economic Studies (QHES) instrument.

Results

We found 38 studies, which combined with the previous 42 studies resulted in a total of 80 included studies. An average QHES score of 76 was found. Since 2010, more studies were funded by pharmaceutical companies. Most recent studies performed cost-utility analysis, univariate and probabilistic sensitivity analyses, and discussed limitations of their economic evaluations. Most studies indicated favorable cost-effectiveness. Majority of evaluations did not provide information regarding the intrinsic value of the PGx test. There were considerable differences in the costs for PGx testing. Reporting of the direction and magnitude of bias on the cost-effectiveness estimates as well as motivation for the chosen economic model and perspective were frequently missing.

Conclusions

Application of PGx tests was mostly found to be a cost-effective or cost-saving strategy. We found that only the minority of recent pharmacoeconomic evaluations assessed the intrinsic value of the PGx tests. There was an increase in the number of studies and in the reporting of quality associated characteristics. To improve future evaluations, scenario analysis including a broad range of PGx tests costs and equal costs of comparator drugs to assess the intrinsic value of the PGx tests, are recommended. In addition, robust clinical evidence regarding PGx tests’ efficacy remains of utmost importance.

Assessing cost-utility of predictive biomarkers in oncology: a streamlined approach

Evaluation of cost-utility is critical in assessing the medical utility of predictive or prognostic biomarkers. Current methods involve complex state-transition models, requiring comprehensive data inputs. We propose a simplified decision-analytic tool to explore the relative effect of factors contributing to the cost-utility of a biomarker. We derived a cost-utility metric, the "test incremental cost-effectiveness ratio" (TICER) for biomarker-guided treatment compared to no biomarker use. This method uses data inputs readily accessible through clinical literature. We compared our results with traditional cost-effectiveness analysis of predictive biomarkers for established (HER2-guided trastuzumab, ALK-guided crizotinib, OncotypeDX-guided adjuvant chemotherapy) and emerging (ROS1-guided crizotinib) targeted treatments. We conducted sensitivity analysis to determine which factors had the greatest impact on TICER estimates. Base case TICER for HER2 was $149,600/quality-adjusted life year (QALY), for ALK was $22,200/QALY, and for OncotypeDX was $11,600/QALY, consistent with literature-reported estimates ($180,000/QALY, $202,800/QALY, $8900/QALY, respectively). Base case TICER for ROS1-guided crizotinib was $205,900/QALY. Generally, when treatment cost is considerably greater than biomarker testing costs, TICER is driven by clinical outcomes and health-related quality of life, while biomarker prevalence and treatment cost have a lesser effect. Our simplified decision-analytic approach produces values consistent with existing cost-effectiveness analyses. Our results suggest that biomarker value is mostly driven by the clinical efficacy of the targeted agent. A user-friendly web tool for complete TICER analysis has been made available for open use at http://medicine.yale.edu/lab/pusztai/ticer/ .

A Value-Based Approach to Treatment of HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Examining the Evidence

Over the past decade, treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer has been revolutionized with the introduction of targeted therapies. Survival in both early and advanced HER2-positive breast cancer has improved significantly. With evidence for major clinical benefit, it is imperative that health systems evaluate new treatments to maximize the value of health expenditures. Physicians, funding agencies, and policy makers are tasked with analyzing available evidence to ensure that each individual patient receives the optimal treatment in a resource-challenged environment.

Cost-effectiveness of lenalidomide plus dexamethasone vs. bortezomib plus melphalan and prednisone in transplant-ineligible U.S. patients with newly-diagnosed multiple myeloma

OBJECTIVE

To conduct a cost-effectiveness assessment of lenalidomide plus dexamethasone (Rd) vs bortezomib plus melphalan and prednisone (VMP) as initial treatment for transplant-ineligible patients with newly-diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM), from a U.S. payer perspective.

METHODS

A partitioned survival model was developed to estimate expected life-years (LYs), quality-adjusted LYs (QALYs), direct costs and incremental costs per QALY and LY gained associated with use of Rd vs VMP over a patient's lifetime. Information on the efficacy and safety of Rd and VMP was based on data from multinational phase III clinical trials and a network meta-analysis. Pre-progression direct costs included the costs of Rd and VMP, treatment of adverse events (including prophylaxis) and routine care and monitoring associated with MM. Post-progression direct costs included costs of subsequent treatment(s) and routine care and monitoring for progressive disease, all obtained from published literature and estimated from a U.S. payer perspective. Utilities were obtained from the aforementioned trials. Costs and outcomes were discounted at 3% annually.

RESULTS

Relative to VMP, use of Rd was expected to result in an additional 2.22 LYs and 1.47 QALYs (discounted). Patients initiated with Rd were expected to incur an additional $78,977 in mean lifetime direct costs (discounted) vs those initiated with VMP. The incremental costs per QALY and per LY gained with Rd vs VMP were $53,826 and $35,552, respectively. In sensitivity analyses, results were found to be most sensitive to differences in survival associated with Rd vs VMP, the cost of lenalidomide and the discount rate applied to effectiveness outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

Rd was expected to result in greater LYs and QALYs compared with VMP, with similar overall costs per LY for each regimen. Results of this analysis indicated that Rd may be a cost-effective alternative to VMP as initial treatment for transplant-ineligible patients with MM, with an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio well within the levels for recent advancements in oncology.

Cost-Effectiveness of Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer and Age Effect in Older Women

BACKGROUND

Previous economic evaluations compared specific chemotherapy agents using input parameters from clinical trials and resource utilization costs. Cost-effectiveness of treatment groups (drug classes) using community-level effectiveness and cost data, however, has not been assessed for elderly patients with breast cancer.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the cost-effectiveness of chemotherapy regimens by age and disease stage under "real-world" conditions for patients with breast cancer.

METHODS

The Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results-Medicare data were used to identify patients with breast cancer with American Joint Committee on Cancer stage I/II/IIIa, hormone receptor-negative (estrogen receptor-negative and progesterone receptor-negative) patients from 1992 to 2009. Patients were categorized into three adjuvant treatment groups: 1) no chemotherapy, 2) anthracycline, and 3) non-anthracycline-based chemotherapy. Median life-years and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) were measured using Kaplan-Meier analysis and were evaluated against average total health care costs (2013 US dollars).

RESULTS

A total of 4575 patients (propensity score-matched) were included for the primary analysis. The anthracycline group experienced 12.05 QALYs and mean total health care costs of $119,055, resulting in an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $7,688 per QALY gained as compared with the no chemotherapy group (QALYs 7.81; average health care cost $86,383). The non-anthracycline-based group was dominated by the anthracycline group with lower QALYs (9.56) and higher health care costs ($122,791). Base-case results were found to be consistent with the best-case and worst-case scenarios for utility assignments. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios varied by age group (range $3,790-$90,405 per QALY gained).

CONCLUSIONS

Anthracycline-based chemotherapy was found cost-effective for elderly patients with early stage (stage I, II, IIIa) breast cancer considering the US threshold of $100,000 per QALY. Further research may be needed to characterize differential effects across age groups.

Is continuous bladder irrigation after prostate surgery still needed?

Continuous bladder irrigation (CBI) is commonly prescribed after certain prostate surgeries to help prevent the clot formation and retention that are frequently associated with these sometimes hemorrhagic surgeries. However, it remains unknown how effective CBI is in preventing clot formation/catheter blockage because these complications still frequently occur in the presence of CBI. On the other hand, the outcome of prostate surgeries has significantly improved over the years, and these surgeries have generally become much safer and, in many hands, less hemorrhagic. Newer surgical options such as holmium laser enucleation of the prostate with associated improved hemorrhagic control have also been introduced, further creating the opportunity to eliminate CBI. Furthermore, there is a lack of review articles on CBI. Hence, this article will review the evolution and contemporary role of CBI in prostate surgeries. To eliminate CBI after prostate surgeries, it is important to achieve good hemostasis during the surgeries. Having in place a policy of non-irrigation after prostate surgeries is also important if less CBI is to be the norm. A non-irrigation policy will hopefully help reduce those cases of CBI prescribed out of long-standing surgical tradition while allowing for cases prescribed out of compelling necessity. The author’s policy of a consistent non-CBI during prostate surgeries over the last 9 years will be highlighted.

The importance of test accuracy in economic evaluations of companion diagnostics

BACKGROUND

Economic evaluations of companion diagnostics often fail to include the impact that tests have on the overall economic value of test-drug combinations. 

METHODS

To illustrate the importance of test accuracy on the cost-effectiveness of companion diagnostics by means of examples. Data were extracted from the literature.

RESULTS

The accuracy of a test and in particularly its specificity, is often more influential on the overall cost-effectiveness results than the price of the test. Specificity becomes more crucial when prevalence of the biomarker is low. Multiple, simultaneous testing faces specific challenges regarding its overall specificity.

CONCLUSION

This article opens a discussion on some fundamental points linked to economic evaluations of test-therapy combinations.

Cost-Effectiveness of Pertuzumab in Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2-Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer

PURPOSE

The Clinical Evaluation of Pertuzumab and Trastuzumab (CLEOPATRA) study showed a 15.7-month survival benefit with the addition of pertuzumab to docetaxel and trastuzumab (THP) as first-line treatment for patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) -overexpressing metastatic breast cancer. We performed a cost-effectiveness analysis to assess the value of adding pertuzumab.

PATIENT AND METHODS

We developed a decision-analytic Markov model to evaluate the cost effectiveness of docetaxel plus trastuzumab (TH) with or without pertuzumab in US patients with metastatic breast cancer. The model followed patients weekly over their remaining lifetimes. Health states included stable disease, progressing disease, hospice, and death. Transition probabilities were based on the CLEOPATRA study. Costs reflected the 2014 Medicare rates. Health state utilities were the same as those used in other recent cost-effectiveness studies of trastuzumab and pertuzumab. Outcomes included health benefits expressed as discounted quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), costs in US dollars, and cost effectiveness expressed as an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio. One- and multiway deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses explored the effects of specific assumptions.

RESULTS

Modeled median survival was 39.4 months for TH and 56.9 months for THP. The addition of pertuzumab resulted in an additional 1.81 life-years gained, or 0.62 QALYs, at a cost of $472,668 per QALY gained. Deterministic sensitivity analysis showed that THP is unlikely to be cost effective even under the most favorable assumptions, and probabilistic sensitivity analysis predicted 0% chance of cost effectiveness at a willingness to pay of $100,000 per QALY gained.

CONCLUSION

THP in patients with metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer is unlikely to be cost effective in the United States.

Estimated Life-Years Saved in Women with HER2-Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer Receiving First-Line Trastuzumab and Pertuzumab in the United States

BACKGROUND

HER2 positive (HER2+) metastatic breast cancer (MBC) is associated with high mortality. Trastuzumab was approved for use in 1998, but the life-years saved from first-line use are unknown, as are the potential US population benefits from adding pertuzumab.

OBJECTIVES

The first aim was to estimate the number of life-years saved by using first-line trastuzumab between 1999 and 2013 in HER2+ women with MBC. In addition, based on these estimates, the second aim was to project the life-years that could be saved by adding pertuzumab to trastuzumab in first-line therapy.

METHODS

We constructed a simulation model accounting for incidence, testing rates, therapy utilization, and overall survival. The model was run for 1999 to 2013 (15 years) to estimate the life-years saved from using trastuzumab plus chemotherapy instead of chemotherapy alone. The model was also run from 2013 to 2027 (15 years) to project the life-years that might be saved by adding pertuzumab. Uncertainty was incorporated using Monte-Carlo methods.

RESULTS

The estimated number of women with HER2+ MBC varied over time, with the peak of 9700 in 2005 and the low of 7700 in 2018. The cumulative incremental life-years saved because of first-line trastuzumab use from 1999 to 2013 was estimated to be 156,413 (95% simulation interval 114,840-195,201). The projection for pertuzumab from 2013 to 2027 was 137,959 (95% simulation interval 56,011-225,069). Exploratory analyses of value showed that pertuzumab, trastuzumab, and chemotherapy is associated with a $1.10 billion gain compared with chemotherapy alone, and adding pertuzumab is associated with a $0.06 billion gain compared with trastuzumab with chemotherapy.

CONCLUSIONS

This simulation model suggests that substantial progress has been made in treating HER2+ women over the past 15 years, and the future may witness similar gains with the introduction of pertuzumab.

Economic evaluations of personalized medicine: existing challenges and current developments

Personalized medicine, with the aim of safely, effectively, and cost-effectively targeting treatment to a prespecified patient population, has always been a long-time goal within health care. It is often argued that personalizing treatment will inevitably improve clinical outcomes for patients and help achieve more effective use of health care resources. Demand is increasing for demonstrable evidence of clinical and cost-effectiveness to support the use of personalized medicine in health care. This paper begins with an overview of the existing challenges in conducting economic evaluations of genetics- and genomics-targeted technologies, as an example of personalized medicine. Our paper illustrates the complexity of the challenges faced by these technologies by highlighting the variations in the issues faced by diagnostic tests for somatic variations, generally referring to genetic variation in a tumor, and germline variations, generally referring to inherited genetic variation in enzymes involved in drug metabolic pathways. These tests are typically aimed at stratifying patient populations into subgroups on the basis of clinical effectiveness (response) or safety (avoidance of adverse events). The paper summarizes the data requirements for economic evaluations of genetics and genomics-based technologies while outlining that the main challenges relating to data requirements revolve around the availability and quality of existing data. We conclude by discussing current developments aimed to address the challenges of assessing the cost-effectiveness of genetics and genomics-based technologies, which revolve around two central issues that are interlinked: the need to adapt available evaluation methods and identifying who is responsible for generating evidence for these technologies.

HER2 assessment by silver in situ hybridization: where are we now?

HER2 testing in breast and gastric cancer is critical not only as a prognostic tool but also as a predictive marker for response to the humanized monoclonal antibody trastuzumab. Currently, HER2 status is assessed on histological and cytological specimens by conventional validated methods such as immunohistochemistry and FISH, while bright-field in situ hybridization techniques, such as silver in situ hybridization and chromogenic in situ hybridization, may offer performance benefits over FISH. The major points are first, technical issues, advantages and disadvantages relevant to each methods, and their clinical implications and second, the well-known genetic heterogeneity of HER2, and the occurrence of polysomy of chromosome 17. This review aims to summarize the growing body of literature on the accuracy of bright-field in situ techniques, notably silver in situ hybridization, in assessing HER2 status, and to discuss the role of such methods in pathology practice.

Peritonectomy and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy: cost analysis and sustainability

BACKGROUND

Malignancies of the peritoneum remain a challenge in any hospital that accepts to manage them, due not only to difficulties associated with the complexity of the procedures involved but also the costs, which - in Italy and other countries that use a diagnosis-related group (DRG) system - are not adequately reimbursed.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

We analyzed data relative to 24 patients operated on between September 2010 and May 2013 with special regard to operating room expenditure, ICU stay, duration of hospitalization, and DRG reimbursement. The total costs per patient included clinical, operating room, procedure, pathology, imaging, ward care, allied healthcare, pharmaceutical, and ICU costs.

RESULTS

Postoperative hospital stay, drugs and materials, and operating room occupancy were the main factors affecting the expenditure for cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy. We had a median hospitalization of 14 days, median ICU stay of 2.4 days, and median operating room occupancy of 585 min. The median expenditure for each case was € 21,744; the median reimbursement by the national health system € 8,375.

CONCLUSIONS

In a DRG reimbursement system, the economic effort in the management of patients undergoing peritonectomy procedures may not be counterbalanced by adequate reimbursement. Joint efforts between medical and administration parties are mandatory to develop appropriate treatment protocols and keep down the costs.

Cost-effectiveness of trastuzumab in metastatic breast cancer: mainly a matter of price in the EU?

Trastuzumab (TR), a monoclonal antibody approved by EMA in 2000 and one of the first examples of "targeted therapy", is indicated to treat human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) positive breast cancer. TR, whose patent will expire in 2015 in Europe, has been judged positively for reimbursement by most public authorities in the EU. Here we critically review the existing evidence on TR in metastatic breast cancer (MBC), in line with the multidisciplinary health technology assessment (HTA) approach, to assess whether the existing evidence supports TR positive reimbursement decisions taken in MBC by EU health authorities. We did a literature search for the main HTA topics (efficacy, quality of life and ethics) on the PubMed international database (2000-2013). Then, we did a specific literature search to select the full economic evaluations (FEEs) conducted in EU countries focused on TR as first-line innovative therapy in MBC. We retrieved scant evidence in the literature to support TR reimbursement in MBC. We found only two clinical trials and their results were unclear because of the large proportion of patients who crossed over. Moreover, the quality of methods was poor in all four European FEEs selected. This example of HTA exercise on a mature monoclonal antibody in a specific indication casts doubts on how often the reimbursement decisions taken by EU health authorities in emotional pathologies like cancer are rational. These decisions should at least be reconsidered periodically on the basis of the latest evidence.

Evaluation of immunohistochemistry using two different antibodies and procedures for primary lung adenocarcinoma harboring anaplastic lymphoma kinase rearrangement

Rearrangements of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) have been recently identified in non-small cell lung carcinomas. Previous studies have revealed characteristic features, including adenocarcinoma histology and mucin production, in ALK-positive lung carcinoma. The present study evaluated immunohistochemistry (IHC) in ALK-positive lung carcinoma using two different antibodies, clone 5A4 and D5F3, and compared the results. On the basis of the aforementioned characteristic features, out of 359 primary lung carcinomas, the ALK status of 14 adenocarcinomas was screened using the intercalated antibody-enhanced polymer (iAEP) method with antibody 5A4, and this was compared with the ALK status obtained using rabbit monoclonal antibody D5F3 and fluorescence in situ hybridization for ALK. Eight cases were demonstrated to be ALK-positive by IHC. Seven cases exhibited ALK rearrangement, which was demonstrated by fluorescence in situ hybridization. The IHC for ALK obtained using D5F3 was comparable with that of the iAEP and exhibited low heterogeneity. This finding suggests that IHC for ALK could be useful in limited tissue samples, such as biopsy specimens or cytology, for the screening of ALK-positive lung carcinoma. In the present study, it was demonstrated that IHC with ALK monoclonal antibody D5F3 was useful for screening lung adenocarcinoma harboring ALK rearrangement.

The quality of economic studies of cancer pharmacogenomics: a quantitative appraisal of the evidence

This study evaluated the quality of health economic studies of cancer pharmacogenomics (PGx). A systematic search of the literature for economic studies of PGx was conducted in four common cancers. Evaluation of study quality was carried out using the quality of health economic studies instrument. Thirty-nine articles met our eligibility criteria and were selected and accepted for further statistical analyses. The majority of articles (85%) were studies focusing on breast cancer. The overall weighted mean quality score was 85.10, with a range from 21 to 100. Eighty-seven percent of articles were categorized as good quality, whereas some 10 and 3% were categorized as moderate and poor quality, respectively. The quality of economic studies of cancer PGx is generally good but varied widely. We identified several attributes that are predictive of quality. Our findings may be useful for oncologists, health economists and decision makers interested in evaluating studies involving PGx.

Differential detection of tumor cells using a combination of cell rolling, multivalent binding, and multiple antibodies

Effective quantification and in situ identification of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in blood are still elusive because of the extreme rarity and heterogeneity of the cells. In our previous studies, we developed a novel platform that captures tumor cells at significantly improved efficiency in vitro using a unique biomimetic combination of two physiological processes: E-selectin-induced cell rolling and poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimer-mediated strong multivalent binding. Herein, we have engineered a novel multifunctional surface, on the basis of the biomimetic cell capture, through optimized incorporation of multiple antibodies directed to cancer cell-specific surface markers, such as epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM), human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2), and prostate specific antigen (PSA). The surfaces were tested using a series of tumor cells, MDA-PCa-2b, MCF-7, and MDA-MB-361, both in mixture in vitro and after being spiked into human blood. Our multifunctional surface demonstrated highly efficient capture of tumor cells in human blood, achieving up to 82% capture efficiency (∼10-fold enhancement than a surface with the antibodies alone) and up to 90% purity. Furthermore, the multipatterned antibodies allowed differential capturing of the tumor cells. These results support that our multifunctional surface has great potential as an effective platform that accommodates virtually any antibodies, which will likely lead to clinically significant, differential detection of CTCs that are rare and highly heterogeneous.

Is individualized medicine more cost-effective? A systematic review

BACKGROUND

Individualized medicine (IM) is a rapidly evolving field that is associated with both visions of more effective care at lower costs and fears of highly priced, low-value interventions. It is unclear which view is supported by the current evidence.

OBJECTIVE

Our objective was to systematically review the health economic evidence related to IM and to derive general statements on its cost-effectiveness.

DATA SOURCES

A literature search of MEDLINE database for English- and German-language studies was conducted.

STUDY APPRAISAL AND SYNTHESIS METHOD

Cost-effectiveness and cost-utility studies for technologies meeting the MEDLINE medical subject headings (MeSH) definition of IM (genetically targeted interventions) were reviewed. This was followed by a standardized extraction of general study characteristics and cost-effectiveness results.

RESULTS

Most of the 84 studies included in the synthesis were from the USA (n = 43, 51 %), cost-utility studies (n = 66, 79 %), and published since 2005 (n = 60, 71 %). The results ranged from dominant to dominated. The median value (cost-utility studies) was calculated to be rounded $US22,000 per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained (adjusted to $US, year 2008 values), which is equal to the rounded median cost-effectiveness in the peer-reviewed English-language literature according to a recent review. Many studies reported more than one strategy of IM with highly varying cost-effectiveness ratios. Generally, results differed according to test type, and tests for disease prognosis or screening appeared to be more favorable than tests to stratify patients by response or by risk of adverse effects. However, these results were not significant.

LIMITATIONS

Different definitions of IM could have been used. Quality assessment of the studies was restricted to analyzing transparency.

CONCLUSIONS

IM neither seems to display superior cost-effectiveness than other types of medical interventions nor to be economically inferior. Instead, rather than 'whether' healthcare was individualized, the question of 'how' it was individualized was of economic relevance.

Economic evaluation of using a genetic test to direct breast cancer chemoprevention in white women with a previous breast biopsy

BACKGROUND

Tamoxifen therapy reduces the risk of breast cancer but increases the risk of serious adverse events including endometrial cancer and thromboembolic events.

OBJECTIVES

The cost effectiveness of using a commercially available breast cancer risk assessment test (BREVAGen™) to inform the decision of which women should undergo chemoprevention by tamoxifen was modeled in a simulated population of women who had undergone biopsies but had no diagnosis of cancer.

METHODS

A continuous time, discrete event, mathematical model was used to simulate a population of white women aged 40-69 years, who were at elevated risk for breast cancer because of a history of benign breast biopsy. Women were assessed for clinical risk of breast cancer using the Gail model and for genetic risk using a panel of seven common single nucleotide polymorphisms. We evaluated the cost effectiveness of using genetic risk together with clinical risk, instead of clinical risk alone, to determine eligibility for 5 years of tamoxifen therapy. In addition to breast cancer, the simulation included health states of endometrial cancer, pulmonary embolism, deep-vein thrombosis, stroke, and cataract. Estimates of costs in 2012 US dollars were based on Medicare reimbursement rates reported in the literature and utilities for modeled health states were calculated as an average of utilities reported in the literature. A 50-year time horizon was used to observe lifetime effects including survival benefits.

RESULTS

For those women at intermediate risk of developing breast cancer (1.2-1.66 % 5-year risk), the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for the combined genetic and clinical risk assessment strategy over the clinical risk assessment-only strategy was US$47,000, US$44,000, and US$65,000 per quality-adjusted life-year gained, for women aged 40-49, 50-59, and 60-69 years, respectively (assuming a price of US$945 for genetic testing). Results were sensitive to assumptions about patient adherence, utility of life while taking tamoxifen, and cost of genetic testing.

CONCLUSIONS

From the US payer's perspective, the combined genetic and clinical risk assessment strategy may be a moderately cost-effective alternative to using clinical risk alone to guide chemoprevention recommendations for women at intermediate risk of developing breast cancer.

What does breast cancer treatment cost and what is it worth?

The costs of breast cancer care are substantial and growing, and they extend across the spectrum of care. Medical therapies and hospitalizations account for a significant proportion of these costs. Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) is the preferred method for assessing the health benefits of medical interventions relative to their costs. Although many CEAs have been conducted for a wide range of breast cancer treatments, these analyses are not used routinely to guide coverage or utilization decisions in the United States. Currently, patients and providers may not consider costs when making most treatment decisions; this is likely to change as payment reform spreads.

Theranostic and molecular classification of breast cancer

CONTEXT

Despite advances in breast cancer management, women continue to relapse and die of breast cancer. Traditionally, evaluation for hormone receptors (estrogen and progesterone), as well as HER2 overexpression, have guided therapy-related decision-making because they are both prognostic and predictive indicators. However, there are limitations with those studies, which can lead to improper treatment. Gene signatures have recently been shown to be of value in identifying molecular portraits of breast carcinoma and are beginning to play role in management and treatment algorithms.

OBJECTIVE

To provide a summary of the prognostic and predictive indicators of breast cancer, such as hormone receptors, HER2, and molecular gene signatures that currently help guide clinical decision making.

DATA SOURCES

Published articles from peer-reviewed journals in PubMed (US National Library of Medicine).

CONCLUSIONS

Emerging evidence shows promise that, in addition to hormone receptors and HER2 studies, evaluating tumors with gene expression profiling can provide additional prognostic and predictive information, further aiding clinical management and leading to a more personalized approach to treating breast cancer.

Economic evaluations of trastuzumab in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer: a systematic review and critique

BACKGROUND

Published economic evaluations of trastuzumab for the treatment of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer have arrived at different conclusions regarding the cost-effectiveness of trastuzumab, despite comparative efficacy being demonstrated by a small set of randomised controlled trials (RCTs).

OBJECTIVES

This article aims to provide insight into the quality of the evaluations and explore the possible drivers of the conflicting conclusions.

METHODS

A systematic literature review was conducted to identify all published economic evaluations that compared the incremental costs and outcomes of trastuzumab versus a comparator.

RESULTS

Fifteen economic evaluations were identified. In the evaluations that estimated efficacy using an RCT, the key drivers of the conclusions regarding cost-effectiveness were: the approach used to estimate overall survival in the control group given crossover to trastuzumab following progression in the trials; the inclusion of treatment beyond progression; inclusion of wastage due to unused vial portions, adverse events, and the cost of HER2 testing. Four evaluations used non-randomised approaches to estimate efficacy, thus introducing the potential for confounding. As a result these evaluations reported relatively optimistic estimates of comparative effectiveness. Finally the evaluations used different thresholds to determine whether treatment with trastuzumab was cost-effective.

CONCLUSION

There were numerous drivers of the different conclusions regarding the cost-effectiveness of trastuzumab, many of which are due to judgements made by the authors when translating data from RCTs. Many of the potential drivers were not identified by the published systematic reviews of economic evaluations and perhaps more remain unidentified because of inconsistent and limited reporting.

The HER2 CISH pharmDx(™) Kit in the assessment of breast cancer patients for anti-HER2 treatment

Testing for amplification of the human EGF receptor 2 (HER2) gene by in situ hybridization is a central principle for the identification of breast cancer patients likely to respond to treatments directed toward HER2. However, its application in clinical routine has been somewhat restricted by the typical use of a visualization system based on fluorescence (FISH), which requires skilled, work-intensive, high-magnification quantitative microscopy. The US FDA has recently approved the HER2 CISH pharmDx™ Kit, which is characterized by employing a chromogenic visualization system that allows quantification of the HER2 gene and centromere 17 reference signals by relatively low-magnification brightfield microscopy. It is indicated as an aid in the assessment of patients for whom Herceptin(®) (trastuzumab) treatment is being considered.