Cost of clinical management of acromegaly in Spain

Post-operative surveillance for somatotroph, lactotroph and non-functional pituitary adenomas after curative resection: a systematic review

CONTEXT

Pituitary tumors are the third most common brain tumor and yet there is no standardization of the surveillance schedule and assessment modalities after transsphenoidal surgery.

EVIDENCE ACQUISITION

OVID, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library databases were systematically screened from database inception to March 5, 2020. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were designed to capture studies examining detection of pituitary adenoma recurrence in patients 18 years of age and older following surgical resection with curative intent.

EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS

A total of 7936 abstracts were screened, with 812 articles reviewed in full text and 77 meeting inclusion criteria for data extraction. A pooled analysis demonstrated recurrence rates at 1 year, 5 years and 10 years for non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFPA; N = 3533 participants) were 1%, 17%, and 33%, for prolactin-secreting adenomas (PSPA; N = 1295) were 6%, 21%, and 28%, and for growth-hormone pituitary adenomas (GHPA; N = 1257) were 3%, 8% and 13%, respectively. Rates of recurrence prior to 1 year were 0% for NFPA, 1-2% for PSPA and 0% for GHPA. The mean time to disease recurrence for NFPA, PSPA and GHPA were 4.25, 2.52 and 4.18 years, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

This comprehensive review of the literature quantified the recurrence rates for commonly observed pituitary adenomas after transsphenoidal surgical resection with curative intent. Our findings suggest that surveillance within 1 year may be of low yield. Further clinical trials and cohort studies investigating cost-effectiveness of surveillance schedules and impact on quality of life of patients under surveillance will provide further insight to optimize follow-up.

GH and IGF-I levels and tumor shrinkage in response to first generation somatostatin receptor ligands in acromegaly: a comparative study between two reference centers for pituitary diseases in Brazil

PURPOSE

To compare biochemical and tumor response rates between two reference centers for pituitary diseases in Brazil after primary and adjuvant therapy with somatostatin receptor ligands (SRL) in acromegaly.

METHODS

Patients were classified as non-responders (NR), partial responders (PR), and full responders (FR) to 12-month SRL therapy according to: [criteria A] normal IGF-I and random GH (rGH) < 1 ng/mL (FR); ≥ 50% decrease of IGF-I and/or rGH (PR); < 50% decrease of IGF-I and rGH (NR); [criteria B] normal IGF-I (FR); ≥ 50% decrease of IGF-I (PR); < 50% decrease of IGF-I (NR). Tumor shrinkage <20% defined poor responders (tPR) and ≥ 20% good responders (tGR).

RESULTS

We studied 219 acromegaly patients (59% women, age 43.1 ± 13.9 years; 73 from Center I and 146 from Center II). After SRL therapy, the proportion of FR, PR, and NR by criteria A and B was 30.2 vs 49.1%, 52.8 vs 21.2% and 17 vs 29.7%, respectively (p < 0.001). Considering criteria A or B separately, there was no difference in the proportion of FR, PR and NR between two centers. However, when comparing criteria A and B, the Center I showed a difference of 30.9% in classification of FR in relation to 13.2% observed in Center II (p = 0.006). tGR were 51.4% of patients, with no differences between the centers.

CONCLUSIONS

IGF-I alone significantly increased positive response rates to SRLs, whereas the inclusion of rGH levels into therapeutic decision might lead to a significant increment on the costs of acromegaly management.

Emerging drugs for the treatment of acromegaly

INTRODUCTION

Acromegaly is a disease characterized by elevated growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) levels. Surgery is the only curative treatment, while medical therapies are administered life-long. To date, almost 30% of patients treated with the currently available medical therapies do not achieve biochemical control.

AREAS COVERED

This review focuses on new drugs in development for acromegaly. In detail, we provide an overview of the new molecules designed to improve disease control rate (such as novel somotostatin receptor ligands and antisense oligonucleotides), as well as the new formulations of existing medications aiming to improve patients' compliance (e.g. oral or long-acting subcutaneous octreotide).

EXPERT OPINION

The constant progresses in the medical treatment of acromegaly could lead to an individualized therapy based on tumor, as well as patient's characteristics. Besides disease control, patient's need represents a major target of medical treatment in chronic diseases such as acromegaly, in order to improve compliance to therapy and patients' quality of life.

Disease Control and Gender Predict the Socioeconomic Effects of Acromegaly: A Nationwide Cohort Study

CONTEXT

Acromegaly is an insidious disease associated with severe somatic morbidity but data on socioeconomic status are scarce.

OBJECTIVE

To study the socioeconomic status in acromegaly in a population-based follow-up study.

METHODS

All incident cases of acromegaly (n = 576) during the period 1977-2010 were included. For every patient, 100 persons were sampled from the general population matched for date of birth and gender (comparison cohort). Cox regression and hazard ratios (HR), conditional logistic regression and linear regression with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used.

OUTCOME MEASURES

Retirement, social security benefit, annual income, cohabitation, separation, parenthood and educational level.

RESULTS

The proportion of retired individuals was significantly higher in patients with acromegaly after the time of diagnosis (HR, 1.43; 95% CI, 1.26-1.62) and also during the 5-year pre-diagnostic period (HR, 1.15; 95% CI, 1.03-1.28). More individuals with acromegaly received social security benefit compared with the comparison cohort during the initial period after the time of diagnosis. Among patients who maintained a job, the annual income was similar to the comparison cohort. Compared with the background population, cohabitation was lower (HR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.50-0.95) as was parenthood (HR, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.39-0.80), whereas neither educational level (HR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.35-1.06) nor separation (HR, 1.13; 95% CI, 0.86-1.47) were different. Female gender and insufficient disease control were associated with a significantly worse socioeconomic status.

CONCLUSIONS

1) Socioeconomic status is impaired in patients with acromegaly even before a diagnosis of acromegaly. 2) Females and patients without disease remission have worse outcomes. 3) Early diagnosis and effective treatment of acromegaly could be important factors in mitigating the negative impact on socioeconomic factors.

Patient Characteristics, Diagnostic Delays, Treatment Patterns, Treatment Outcomes, Comorbidities, and Treatment Costs of Acromegaly in China: A Nationwide Study

PURPOSE

Acromegaly is a rare, intractable endocrine disease. We aimed to describe the patient characteristics, diagnostic delays, treatment patterns, treatment outcomes, comorbidities and treatment costs of acromegaly in China.

METHODS

This is a nationwide cross-sectional study. Patients diagnosed with and treated for acromegaly between 1996 and 2019 across China were surveyed via the Chinese Association of Patients with Acromegaly platform.

RESULTS

In total, 473 patients (58.8% females, mean age at diagnosis: 39.4±9.5 years) were included. The median disease duration was 3 years. The most common symptoms were extremity enlargement (91.8%) and facial changes (90.1%). Overall, 63.0% of patients experienced diagnostic delays within healthcare systems; 63.8% of the delays were <1 year. The most common first-line therapy was surgery with a transsphenoidal (76.1%) or transcranial approach (3.2%). Somatostatin analogues or dopamine agonists were administered in 20.5% of the patients as first-line therapies and in 41.7% as adjuvant therapies. Radiotherapy was performed in 32.1% of patients, 99.3% of whom received radiotherapy as an adjuvant therapy. After a median 5-year follow-up, 46.2% achieved biochemical control. Comorbidities were reported in 88.2% of the patients at follow-up; memory deterioration and thyroid nodules were the most common. Controlled patients had greater improvements in symptoms and comorbidities during follow-up than uncontrolled patients. The annual per-capita cost-of-treatment was $11013 in 2018, with medical treatments being the largest contributor (67%). Medical insurance covered 47.2% of all treatment costs.

CONCLUSION

This study provides the first comprehensive description of real-world acromegaly data in China, serving as a basis for future population-based studies.

The effects of pre-operative somatostatin analogue therapy on treatment cost and remission in acromegaly

PURPOSE

To investigate the effects of preoperative somatostatin analogue (SSA) treatment on the annual cost of all acromegaly treatment modalities and on remission rates.

METHODS

The medical records of 135 patients with acromegaly who were followed at endocrinology clinic of Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty for at least 2 years after surgery between 2009 and 2016 were reviewed.

RESULTS

The mean follow-up time was 50.9 ± 25.7 months. Early remission was defined according to 3rd month values in patients who didn't achieve remission, and 6th month values in patients who achieved remission at the 3rd month after surgery. The early and late remission rates of the entire study population were 40% and 80.7%, respectively. The early remission of the preoperative SSA-treated group (61.5%) was significantly higher than SSA-untreated group (31.2%) (p = 0.002). The early remission of the preoperative SSA-treated patients with macroadenomas (52.2%) was also significantly higher than the SSA-untreated group (23.5%) (p = 0.02). In the subgroup analysis; this difference was much more pronounced in invasive macroadenomas (p = 0.002). There were no differences between the groups in terms of late remission.The median annual cost of all acromegaly treatment modalities in study population was €3788.4; the cost for macroadenomas was significantly higher than for microadenomas (€4125.0 vs. €3226.5, respectively; p = 0.03). Preoperative SSA use in both microadenomas and macroadenomas didn't alter the cost of treatment. The increase in the duration of preoperative medical treatment had no effect on early or late remissions (p = 0.09; p = 0.8).

CONCLUSIONS

Preoperative medical treatment had no effect on the costs of acromegaly treatment. There was a benefical effect of pre-operative SSA use on early remission in patients with macroadenomas; however, this effect didn't persist long term.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of second-line pharmacological treatment of acromegaly in Spain

Objective: To estimate the cost-effectiveness of second-line pharmacological treatments in patients with acromegaly resistant to first-generation somatostatin analogues (FG SSA) from the Spanish National Health System (NHS) perspective.Methods: A Markov model was developed to analyze the cost-effectiveness of pegvisomant and pasireotide in FG SSA-resistant acromegaly, simulating a cohort of patients from the treatment beginning to death. Treatment with pegvisomant or pasireotide was compared to FG SSA retreatment. Efficacy data were obtained from clinical trials and utilities from the literature. Direct health costs were obtained from Spanish sources (€2018).Results: The Incremental Cost Effectiveness Ratio (ICER) of pegvisomant vs. FG SSA was €85,869/Quality-adjusted life years (QALY). The ICER of pasireotide vs. FG SSA was €551,405/QALY. The ICER was mainly driven by the incremental efficacy (4.41 QALY for pegvisomant vs. FG SSA and 0.71 QALY for pasireotide vs. FG SSA), with a slightly lower increase in costs with pegvisomant (€378,597 vs. FG SSA) than with pasireotide (€393,151 vs. FG SSA).Conclusion: The ICER of pasireotide compared to FG SSA was six times higher than the ICER of pegvisomant vs. FG SSA. Pegvisomant is a more cost-effective alternative for the treatment of acromegaly in FG SSA-resistant patients in the Spanish NHS.

Cost-effectiveness of somatostatin analogues in the treatment of acromegaly

INTRODUCTION

Somatostatin analogues (SSAs) are the largest contributor to the direct medical cost of acromegaly management worldwide. The aim of this review was to identify and report available evidence on the cost-effectiveness of SSAs in the treatment of acromegaly.

AREAS COVERED

A literature search on relevant papers published up to April 2018 was performed. A total of 22 eligible studies (10 full-text articles and 12 conference abstracts) conducted in 14 countries were included in the analysis. In majority of studies, modelling technique was the principal research method.

EXPERT COMMENTARY

The results of cost-effectiveness analyses: 1) support published recommendations where SSAs are indicated as first-line medical treatment for patients with persistent disease after surgery or who are not eligible for surgery; 2) suggest that preoperative medical therapy with SSAs may be highly cost-effective in acromegalic patients with macroadenoma, in centres without optimal surgical results 3) indicate that in some countries pasireotide and pegvisomant appeared to be cost-effective or even dominant strategies in comparison to first-generation SSAs. The main limitation of economic evaluations was the lack of high-quality studies designed to directly compare various treatment strategies in acromegaly.

Somatostatin and CXCR4 chemokine receptor expression in hepatocellular and cholangiocellular carcinomas: tumor capillaries as promising targets

Background

Hepatocellular (HCC) and cholangiocellular carcinomas (CCC) display an exceptionally poor prognosis. Especially for advanced disease no efficient standard therapy is currently available. Recently, somatostatin analogs have been evaluated for the treatment of HCC, however, with contradictory results. Besides, for both malignancies the chemokine receptor CXCR4 has been discussed as a possible new target structure.

Methods

Expression of somatostatin receptor (SSTR) subtypes 1, 2A, 3, 4, and 5, and of CXCR4 was evaluated in a total of 71 HCCs and 27 CCCs by immunohistochemistry using well-characterized novel monoclonal antibodies.

Results

In HCC tumor cells, frequency and intensity of expression of SSTRs and CXCR4 were only low. CXCR4 was present in about 40% of the HCCs, although at a low intensity. SSTR5, SSTR2, and SSTR3 were detected in about 15%, 8%, and 5% of the HCC tumors, respectively. SSTR and CXCR4 expression was much higher in CCC than in HCC. CXCR4 and SSTR1 were present in 60% and 67% of the CCC samples, respectively, followed by SSTR2 and SSTR5, which were detected in 30% and 11% of the tumors, respectively. Most notably, CXCR4 was intensely expressed on the tumor capillaries in about 50% of the HCCs and CCCs. CXCR4 expression on tumor vessels was associated with poor patient outcomes.

Conclusions

CCC, but not HCC, may be suitable for SSTR-based treatments. Because of the predominant expression of SSTR1, pan-somatostatin analogs should be preferred. In both HCC and CCC, indirect targeting of tumors via the CXCR4-positive tumor capillaries may represent a promising additional therapeutic strategy.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12885-017-3911-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Comorbidities, treatment patterns and cost-of-illness of acromegaly in Sweden: a register-linkage population-based study

OBJECTIVE

Acromegaly is a complex endocrine disease with multiple comorbidities. Treatment to obtain biochemical remission includes surgery, medical therapy and radiation. We aimed to describe comorbidities, treatment patterns and cost-of-illness in patients with acromegaly in Sweden.

DESIGN

A nationwide population-based study.

METHODS

Patients with acromegaly were identified and followed in national registers in Sweden. Longitudinal treatment patterns were assessed in patients diagnosed between July 2005 and December 2013. The cost-of-illness during 2013 was estimated from a societal perspective among patients diagnosed between 1987 and 2013.

RESULTS

Among 358 patients with acromegaly (48% men, mean age at diagnosis 50.0 (s.d. 15.3) years) at least one comorbidity was reported in 81% (n = 290). The most common comorbidities were hypertension (40%, n = 142), neoplasms outside the pituitary (30%, n = 109), hypopituitarism (22%, n = 80) and diabetes mellitus (17%, n = 61). Acromegaly treatment was initiated on average 3.7 (s.d. 6.9) months after diagnosis. Among the 301 treated patients, the most common first-line treatments were surgery (60%, n = 180), somatostatin analogues (21%, n = 64) and dopamine agonists (14%, n = 41). After primary surgery, 24% (n = 44) received somatostatin analogues. The annual per-patient cost was €12 000; this was €8700 and €16 000 if diagnosed before or after July 2005, respectively. The cost-of-illness for acromegaly and its comorbidities was 77% from direct costs and 23% from production loss.

CONCLUSIONS

The prevalence of comorbidity is high in patients with acromegaly. The most common first-line treatment in acromegalic patients was surgery followed by somatostatin analogues. The annual per-patient cost of acromegaly and its comorbidities was €12 000.

Clinical and Economic Burden of Commercially Insured Patients with Acromegaly in the United States: A Retrospective Analysis

BACKGROUND

Acromegaly is a chronic disorder characterized by excess growth hormone secretion and elevated insulin-like growth factor-1 levels most often caused by a pituitary adenoma. Clinical presentation of the disease includes coarsening of the facial features, soft-tissue swelling of the hands and feet, and overgrowth of the frontal skull and protrusion of the jaw, as well as joint symptoms. Acromegaly is associated with several comorbidities, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and arthropathy, which, if left untreated, can lead to early mortality. Surgery to remove the adenoma is the first-line treatment for many patients, but more than 50% of patients will require additional pharmacologic or radiation therapy.

OBJECTIVES

To (a) determine the clinical and economic burden of illness among patients with acromegaly using administrative claims data from a large, commercially insured population in the United States and (b) estimate the most frequent acromegaly-related comorbidities and health care resource utilization and costs among these patients.

METHODS

This retrospective, observational cohort study used administrative claims data from the HealthCore Integrated Research Database, containing a geographically diverse spectrum of longitudinal claims data from the largest database of commercially insured patients in the United States. Patients were aged ≥ 20 years and fulfilled ≥ 1 of the following criteria during the intake period (March 31, 2008-July 31, 2012): ≥ 2 independent diagnostic codes for acromegaly, ≥ 1 acromegaly diagnosis code and ≥ 1 acromegaly-related procedure code, or ≥ 1 acromegaly diagnosis code and ≥ 1 medical claim for acromegaly-related therapy. The index date was defined as the date of the first medical claim for acromegaly within the intake period. Assessed outcomes included prevalence of acromegaly diagnosis and incidence of new acromegaly diagnoses during the study period (January 1, 2008-July 31, 2013), acromegaly-related comorbidities, and pharmacotherapy use. Because 2008 and 2012 data were incomplete, incidence rates were only reported for 2009, 2010, and 2011. Total and acromegaly-related health care resource utilization and annual health care costs were analyzed during a 12-month post-index observational period.

RESULTS

In total, 757 patients with acromegaly met the selection criteria for this study, with a mean age of 49.3 years (53.6% female). The total prevalence of acromegaly was 41.7 cases per million. Acromegaly incidence was 15.0, 13.3, and 9.5 cases per million in 2009, 2010, and 2011, respectively. The top 5 acromegaly-related comorbidities were hypertension, diabetes, hypothyroidism, arthropathy/arthralgia/synovitis, and sleep apnea. During the study period, 51% of patients (n = 385) used acromegaly-related pharmacologic therapy, with the most common being cabergoline and octreotide (used by 12.4% and 12.2% of patients, respectively). Overall, 18.8% of patients incurred an acromegaly-related inpatient stay; 97.0% used outpatient services other than emergency room (ER) or physician visits; 74.8% had a physician office visit; and 1.8% visited the ER for acromegaly-related reasons. In the 12-month post-index period, 37.0% of patients filed claims for acromegaly-related prescription drugs, and patients with greater than 1 claim had an average of 7.6 prescriptions. The most expensive acromegaly-related costs in this study population were inpatient hospitalizations ($6,754) and prescription drugs ($6,147).

CONCLUSIONS

Consistent with previous studies, this study confirms that acromegaly is a rare condition associated with multiple comorbidities. Notably, 18.8% of this study population required an inpatient hospital admission during the 12-month post-index period, possibly because of severe comorbidities. Because acromegaly-related costs were driven by hospitalizations and pharmacotherapy, improved management of the disease may reduce the clinical and economic burden experienced by patients with acromegaly.

Diagnosis and management of acromegaly: the patient's perspective

PURPOSE

Early diagnosis is a success factor for the prevention of long-term comorbidity and premature death in patients with acromegaly, but large-scale data on the diagnostic process and disease management are scarce. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the diagnostic process, implementation of treatment and changes in life situation in patients with acromegaly, focusing on sex-specific differences.

METHODS

Non-interventional patient-reported outcome study. 165 patients with clinically and biochemically proven acromegaly were questioned about the diagnostic process and utilization of health care by means of a self-developed standardized postal survey including questions on acromegaly symptoms experienced before diagnosis, number and specialty of consulted doctors, time to diagnosis and aftercare.

RESULTS

The diagnostic process took 2.9 (SD 4.53) years, during which 3.4 (SD 2.99) physicians were consulted. Women waited longer [4.1 (SD 5.53) years] than men [1.6 (SD 2.69) years; p = 0.001] for the correct diagnosis, and consulted more doctors in the process [4.0 (SD 2.99) vs. 2.7 (SD 2.84) doctors, p < 0.001, respectively]. In 48.5 % of patients, acromegaly was diagnosed by an endocrinologist (men: 45.1 %; women: 52.4 %). Overall disease duration from symptom onset until last surgery was 5.5 (SD 6.85) years, with no sex differences. A change in employment status was the most commonly reported event after diagnosis and a quarter of the patients stated that the illness had changed their lives.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings confirm the urgent need to increase awareness of the clinical manifestation of acromegaly to facilitate an earlier diagnosis of the disease and to provide diagnostic equality across the sexes.

Impact of pre-treatment with somatostatin analogs on surgical management of acromegalic patients referred to a single center

First-line treatment of patients with growth hormone secreting adenomas is surgical resection. Disease control can be obtained by surgery (one or multiple steps), in case followed by medical treatment or adjuvant radiation therapy (radiosurgery or radiotherapy). The impact of pre-surgical treatment with somatostatin analogs (SSAs) on surgical outcome is still controversial. The aim of this study is to retrospectively evaluate the impact of SSA pre-treatment on biochemical outcome and post-surgical hypopituitarism in a consecutive surgical series from a single referral centre, with data covering 17 years' experience and to investigate the possible predictive value of early postoperative insulin-like factor 1 (IGF-I) on long-term biochemical control. Data from 68 acromegalic patients were revised. Endocrinological long-term follow-up (minimum 6 months) was available for 57 patients. Eighty-eight percent of patients received a single-step surgical treatment (single surgery, with or without adjuvant medical therapy). The remaining 12% underwent a multi-step strategy: redo-surgery (three macroadenomas) and/or radiation (four macro- and two microadenomas). Pre-surgical SSA treatment was performed in 77.9% and resulted in a significant lowering of basal IGF-I values (p = 0.0001). Early post-surgical IGF-I was significantly lower in patients biochemically controlled with single surgery alone (p = 0.016) and after overall treatment strategies (p = 0.005). Normalization of GH and IGF-I was obtained in 56.1%, and normalization of either one of them in 27.8% of patients. No major surgery-related complications occurred. Post-treatment hypopituitarism occurred in 11.9% and was lower in SSA pre-treated patients. Our results well compare with other recently published series. Very early post-surgical IGF-I improvement might be a useful predictor for biochemical disease control. Moreover, our results suggest that pre-surgical treatment with somatostatin analogs seems to prevent hypopituitarism.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of preoperative treatment of acromegaly with somatostatin analogue on surgical outcome

CONTEXT

There is no uniform standard of care for acromegaly. Due to the high costs involved, steps must be taken to ensure the cost-effective delivery of treatment.

OBJECTIVE

Taking the results of an earlier meta-analysis as a starting point, this study aims to determine whether treatment with long-acting somatostatin analogue (SSA) prior to surgery improves the cost-effectiveness of the treatment of acromegaly.

METHODS

The results are presented as an Incremental Cost Effectiveness Ratio (ICER) immediately after surgery, for the following year and over the next four decades. The cure rates percentage (95% CI) for the three randomized prospective controlled trials were 44.4% (34.2-54.7) and 18.2% (10.1-26.3) for preoperative treated and untreated patients respectively. The cost of pharmacological treatments was based on the number of units prescribed, dose and length of treatment.

RESULTS

The mean (95% CI) ICER immediately after surgery was €17,548 (12,007-33,250). In terms of the postoperative SSA treatment, the ICER changes from positive to negative before two years after surgery. One decade after surgery the ICER per patient/year was €-9973 (-18,798; -6752) for postoperative SSA treatment and €-31,733 (-59,812; -21,483) in the case of postoperative pegvisomant treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

In centres without optimal surgical results, preoperative treatment of GH-secreting pituitary macroadenomas with SSA not only shows a significant improvement in the surgical results, but is also highly cost-effective, with an ICER per patient/year one decade after surgery, of between €-9973 (-18,798; -6752) and €-31,733 (-59,812; -21,483) for SSA and pegvisomant respectively.

Expert consensus document: A consensus on the medical treatment of acromegaly

In March 2013, the Acromegaly Consensus Group met to revise and update guidelines for the medical treatment of acromegaly. The meeting comprised experts skilled in the medical management of acromegaly. The group considered treatment goals covering biochemical, clinical and tumour volume outcomes, and the place in guidelines of somatostatin receptor ligands, growth hormone receptor antagonists and dopamine agonists, and alternative modalities for treatment including combination therapy and novel treatments. This document represents the conclusions of the workshop consensus.

Emerging drugs for acromegaly

INTRODUCTION

Acromegaly is a rare disease that severely impacts patients' health all the while, being a slowly progressing illness. In the past decades, advancements in treatment modalities, especially development of new drugs, as well as focused guidelines has improved management of acromegaly. Still, many patients are considered not sufficiently treated and there remains an ongoing need for further development.

AREAS COVERED

This article reviews new medical treatments currently under clinical investigation (such as pasireotide, oral octreotide and somatoprim) and under experimental development (such as octreotide implants, CAM2029 and ATL-1103).

EXPERT OPINION

As it seems unlikely that one single agent may achieve cure in 100% of cases, there is an urgent need for new agents that help patients where current medication fails. Imperatively, this means we have to improve our understanding of the underlying pathogenetic and molecular mechanisms.

[Epidemiology of acromegaly in Spain]

Epidemiology of acromegaly in Spain does not differ from that reported in other published series. Prevalence rate is approximately 60 cases per million, peak incidence occurs in middle age, more women are affected (61%), and there is a substantial delay between occurrence of the first symptoms and diagnosis. Studies REA (Spanish Acromegaly Registry) and OASIS analyzed the epidemiology, clinical characteristics, and management of the disease in Spain. Surgery, performed in more than 80% of patients, has been (and continues to be) the main treatment for the past four decades. In the past decade, however, more patients have received somatostatin analogs (SSAs) as first-line treatment. Use of radiation therapy has significantly decreased in recent decades. Somatostatin analogs (SSAs) are the most commonly used drugs, administered to 85% of patients; however, only 12%-15% continue on drug treatment alone. The surgical remission rate was 38.4% in the last decade, with a significant improvement over decades. Preoperative treatment with SSAs has no influence on surgical cure rates. Second-line therapies used after surgical failure in the past decade included SSAs in 49% of patients, repeat surgery in 27%, radiotherapy in 11%, pegvisomant in 15%, and dopamine agonists in 5%. Mean cost of acromegaly treatment was 9.668€ (data estimated in 2009 and adjusted in 2010), of which 71% was due to the cost of SSAs. Patients treated with pegvisomant have a more aggressive form of the disease and higher comorbidity rates.